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heauxzenji · 4 years

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Tetsuro Kuroo: NSFW Alphabet

Since I got at least THREE separate requests for this as a part of my 200 event (and I’m literally 1 away from 300???? how???), I’ve decided to add these gems as an XXXtra Special (laugh with me) piece to celebrate! Thank you SO much for following and enjoying my work! ❤️You can find the full alphabet prompt list here. Creds to @fairy-tail-babes for creating it!

𝔄 = 𝔄𝔣𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔠𝔞𝔯𝔢

He’s the sweetest after he’s gone particularly hard on you. He loves to baby you, telling you how good you were for him. He also won’t let you go anywhere by yourself- he insists on carrying you wherever you want to go in the house. He also always has your favorite food or snack ready to go, and always lets you pick the movie.

𝔅 = 𝔅𝔬𝔡𝔶 𝔓𝔞𝔯𝔱

He fixates on the faces you make. Particularly the look in your eyes. Your expression tells him how he’s making you feel, and he’s an expert at reading you. He likes to stare into your eyes while you have sex, and always encourages you to keep your eyes open and look back at him.

ℭ = ℭ𝔲𝔪

Oh he likes to cum in your mouth- no, he LOVES it. Kuroo has an oral fixation, so he likes to see himself drip onto your tongue as he towers over you while you’re on your knees.

𝔇 = 𝔇𝔦𝔯𝔱𝔶 𝔖𝔢𝔠𝔯𝔢𝔱

He hasn’t gotten it done because he’s scared you won’t like it, but he’s seriously considered getting his dick pierced. He doesn’t want to bring it up because he’s thorouhgly convinced you’d hate it.

𝔈 = 𝔈𝔵𝔭𝔢𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔫𝔠𝔢

He knows a lot. Not necesarily from his OWN experience, but simply because he’s a smarty pants. He will literally research things you bring up, finding the best products or methods to make your experience the most pleasurable possible. this is the one good thing abiut him being a fckn nerd...

𝔉 = 𝔉𝔞𝔳𝔬𝔯𝔦𝔱𝔢 𝔓𝔬𝔰𝔦𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫

I truly don’t think he has one! He likes anything that makes him look strong/sexy and that’s everything.... have you seen his abs/arms/back?!?! But I will say he is a VERY visual lover, so he does enjoy positioning you in front of a mirror and having the both of you watch him take you.

𝔊 = 𝔊𝔬𝔬𝔣𝔶

He laughs at you struggling against him. He thinks its funny that you think you stand a chance against him, when you both know you’re completely at his mercy.

ℌ = ℌ𝔞𝔦𝔯

He’s pretty well groomed. The carpet definitely matches the drapes. He doesn’t shave, but instead he opts to trim every once in awhile when he feels like its a little overgrown. But what’s important is that its clean. He’s very particular about that.

ℑ = ℑ𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔪𝔞𝔠𝔶

There are cute moments with Kuroo where he totally breaks out of the dom role he plays so well. Times where he’s actually very soft with you, and will just pause to say “wow, you are really the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

excuse me while I cry about it

𝔍 = 𝔍𝔞𝔠𝔨 𝔒𝔣𝔣

HE SENDS YOU VIDEOS WHEN HE DOES! The sneaky fuck will do so in his office or car, and send you the video like “thinking of you. <3″ He always cuts the video off right before he cums though, or even worse, he’ll angle the camera up to his face so you can watch his eyes flutter closed- then he’ll look directly into the camera and wink, knowing he denied you of EXACTLY what you wanted to see.

𝔎 = 𝔎𝔦𝔫𝔨

Ok so I’m gonna list a few and just... let you do what you will with them 👀:

CORRUPTION

Praise (giving)

Brat Taming/Degradation/Light exhibitionism (these all go hand in hand)

We ALL know he has a daddy kink too come on

𝔏 = 𝔏𝔬𝔠𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫

He’ll have you wherever he can for a quickie, but the real fun is always in your home. Obviously your bedroom, but Kuroo is also very fond of shower sex, especially early in the morning. For him, its better than coffee at waking him up.

𝔐 = 𝔐𝔬𝔱𝔦𝔳𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫

He loves to hear you beg for him. Knowing he’s the only one you call out for in that way drives him wild. He also likes to see you make a mess on his cock, its his reassurance that he makes you feel just that good.

𝔑 = 𝔑𝔬!

Kuroo is posessive, so there’s no way he’s allowing anyone else into your sex life. He might joke about showing his friends your sextapes, but in reality, he would probably murder anyone who looked at you like that besides him.

𝔒 = 𝔒𝔯𝔞𝔩

Loves to give and loves to receive. Prefers to recieve though, because he likes watching you get really into sucking him off. Also likes to fuck your face.

𝔓 = 𝔓𝔞𝔠𝔢

This is a toss up. It really does depend on his mood. He loves to tease though, so this fucker likes a good, lingering slow burn when he’s fucking you on a normal day. He’ll alternate between slow/shallow and slow/deep, just until you’re absolutely begging him. then he’ll pick it up and start pounding into you. However, if he’s had a particularly stressful day, he will take it out on you in the bedroom... not that you mind.

𝔔 = 𝔔𝔲𝔦𝔠𝔨𝔦𝔢

He uses them as foreplay. He’ll bend you over his office deck and get you craving him, but he’ll thrust so shallowly that you’re grinding against him for more- only for him to bring a hand to your ass and then whisper “When we get home, you’re all mine.” Which in turn only makes you want him more.

ℜ = ℜ𝔦𝔰𝔨

He’s definitely someone who is down to experiment. He wants to try just about anything you bring up, so that he knows what makes you feel good, and more importantly, what makes you tick. For him, understanding what you like is like understanding your deepest thoughts.

𝔖 = 𝔖𝔱𝔞𝔪𝔦𝔫𝔞

He can definitely go rounds. He takes ‘all night’ literally, and will not be finished until he knows you are ABSOLUTELY fucked out and can’t take it anymore. Even then, he’ll give you maybe 30 minutes to recover ??? if he’s being nice that night. But then he’s just right back in your guts like nothing happened.

𝔗 = 𝔗𝔬𝔶

Yes. He got you a special toy that was basically a silicone mold of HIS dick for when you’re not together... a true king.

𝔘 = 𝔘𝔫𝔣𝔞𝔦𝔯

Of course Kuroo is a tease. It’s his life blood. He’s naturally someone who likes to get a rise out of people to push them to be better- and you’re no exception. He always likes to put you in ‘compromising’ positions around his friends and then play it off like you’re the instigator.

“Oh y/n I know you want it right now, but baby, everyone is here- we must wait until we’re home okay?”

What a JERK iloveitplease

𝔙 = 𝔙𝔬𝔩𝔲𝔪𝔢

Oh. My. God. So, he doesn’t necesarily moan a lot, but when he does, he tries his hardest to muffle them by breathing in sharply, or catching them in his throat. But he is someone who grunts and swears a lot. And yes 300% to dirty talk and pet names. Chibi-Chan is undeniably canon.

𝔚 = 𝔚𝔦𝔩𝔡 ℭ𝔞𝔯𝔡

He has the MOST FIRE sex playlist. I just know it. He has such a wide taste in music, so he can set the mood at any time just right. Its always playing “on accident” the moment you two are together- Kuroo calls it a sign.

𝔛 = 𝔛 ℜ𝔞𝔶

This took me like 30 minutes to fully fantasize about and explain

KUROO HAS A PRETTY DICK HE IS A PRETTY DICK CLUB CARDHOLDER. It’s not super thick, but it’s long. I’d actually say he’s a realistic 8incher. Please kill me with it. He’s also definitely a shower- so what he has is only enhanced when he’s hard. His dick also flushes against the fabric of whatever pants/shorts he wears, so you’re constantly caught staring, not that he minds- he loves the attention, and the thought of always being on your mind.

𝔜= 𝔜𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔤

I would say he has a relatively normal to high sex drive- When he wants you, he wants you, and he won’t leave it alone until he gets you. He’s definitely the type to remind you how much he wants you all day long in an effort to rush you home from your errands or workday. He’s very good at making it known that he’s in the mood for you and you only

ℨ = ℨ𝔷𝔷

Kuroo... Doesn’t sleep at all? I see him as a night owl anyway, so he’s never really tired. He would honestly rather just admire you as you sleep. That’s how he knows he did a good job.

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curiouscarllee · 3 years

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Hello, I'm making a list of my OCs with a bit of art and information! I am doing this because I feel as though I post a lot about my characters without ever providing any detail, so, here you go :) On top of this, I'd like to state that I am always intrested in hearing about your ocs as well, you are more than welcome to send me an ask about them or about my own characters :)

Fairlynn: My Main

Fairlynn is a bosmer, he is the Hero of Kvatch and also Sheogorath. He is a tad unpredictable and has some mental issues in regards to mirroring the mad god and myself. Fairlynn was 28 when he started with saving the world, only 29 when it ended and full of grief with Martin's passing. This drove him to the Shivering Isles in hopes that he could persuade a daedric prince to revive his beloved. That's not at all how it went down, upon noticing this realm was not one of a stronger prince, Fairlynn was tempted to leave the plane but found himself infatuated with it instead.

After a few years, the princes sensed a danger approaching, one in the form of an imperial male that had the possibility of defeating them. Therefore, they agreed to send one of themselves down to nirn in an attempt to stop it. Unfortunately, they chose Fairlynn to get the job done and yeeted him down where the bosmer began to gather enforcments in the form of other people which he thought would become allies when they grew older.. But what he didn't expect was the imperial managed to befriend every. Single. One. Of the people Fairlynn had set on course to hate the man, none of them truly did. That's the exact moment where he went, "if you can't beat em' join em'." And promptly joined the group in his mortal form without revealing to them who he was. Instead the group thinks he's just a skooma addict that is talented in the ways of fighting. They have no idea.

Ragnar

This is that imperial male stated in the last description. This man is destined to destroy the influence of the daedric princes on the mortal people, however, he has the intelligence of a box of rocks and everyone doubts this prophecy to be true. The only time one can possibly think this true is when he displays his power in the midst of battle, he was blessed by the divines at birth, each giving him power to defeat the evil of the world. He his bound to use it.. But he never uses it for good, I mean,, why would he? He could kill anyone he wants! No way he's gonna be the "good hero"! (Basically, this was my brother's character and he used mods to make him op so I had to improvise.)

Past wise, my brother and I decided to intertwine him with the lore. You rememeber the song Ragnar the Red? That was Ragnar's father. In truth, his name should be Ragnar the second or Ragnar Jr. but his mother, Matilda, said "hahahaha, no, your father was a mess and you shall not be him." and removed the second part. After his mother died of a sickness, Ragnar hesitantly moved towns in search of work. He missed his mother greatly and would give anything to have her back.

S'arra

Meet S'arra, she is a khajiit female and the heart of the group (along side another who you'll meet shortly). S'arra is the youngest, she may be sweet but she'll rob you blind if she sees a chance. S'arra came from a happy family in Elsywer, she was the child of F'awn and Ja'zaka, two khajiit with completely different sets of morals. Ja'zaka was a born bandit, he was wild and carefree, F'awn (My friends oc :)) was a gentle and caring woman, she loved to live. When F'awn got pregnant, her brother, J'ar, lost his mind. J'ar was fueled with anger towards Ja'zaka and at one point made an attempt at his brother-in-law's life. It was at that moment J'ar was kicked from F'awn's life, he ran from his home and joined a vampire clan/bandit group in Skyrim.

Only months after her birth, Ja'zaka disappeared. He ran and never came back. F'awn tried her best to raise S'arra, but one morning S'arra was taken from her by a rabid animal that invaded the town. The creature took off with S'arra and lead the small khajiit to it's den where a caravan traveling to Skyrim would soon find her and take her with them, raising her as their own on the roads of Skyrim. The caravan was killed and attacked by a certain bandit group/vampire clan (hahaha, yup, the one J'ar is in). S'arra joined the group in hopes of revenge, although, she'll keep that bit to herself. ;)

Adoren

Now this orc, oh he's amazing. He is an old man, a precious old man with a past of pain and betrayal. In order to introduce his past, we need to introduce his adpoted brother first:

Zanik

This is Adoren's adopted brother, Zanik (grandson of Nellie), a not so nice older man. Zanik was thrown out by his father a young age, more precisely, he was thrown in a river by his father in one of his father's crazed fits. Zanik can't swim, he hates water more than anything else in his life. The dunmer was washed to shore near an orc stronghold where he was picked up by Adoren and adopted by the orcs family. Zanik and Adoren lived happily for many many years, one day they went on an exploration to scout for different hunting grounds. It started to pour causing the two to take shelter in a dwemer ruin. That's when they heard soft groaning and sounds of pain coming from down one of the halls. Hesitantly, they explored. Only to find:

Kidawe

My most lore breaking character! Meet Kidawe, a small snow elf from one of the last remaining villiages of falmer! Now, yes, I am breaking the lore because, since when has canon lore stopped me? Kidawe lived on top of the mountains to the north of Cyrodiil and the South of Skyrim. His village is small and portable, in case they need to move, the tribe of elves is shrouded in mystery, they've managed to live this long and refuse to leave their mountain. Kidawe doesn't listen to that, he runs off each night in search for dwemer ruins, things he find more then interesting. The young elf holds no fear when he's in his element, and he loves to explore. One evening, while in a ruin he is attacked by a vampire/bandit named Raeferth (the leader) who pushes him to join the group, trying to convince the snow elf that his expertise is needed. Kidawe refuses and then engages in battle with the nord, he looses and ends up pinned under a fallen pillar that crushes his arm.

Upon waking up after falling unconscious from the pain, Kidawe is met with the sight of Adoren and Zanik standing over him. After many many months of trust building, the two get Kidawe to befriend them. Kidawe uses their help to fashion himself a new arm from dwarven parts found in the ruin. After a few years, Kidawe disappears. He was taken by force by Raeferth (the others do not know this). Adoren and Zanik are heart broken. They miss their friend greatly.

Adoren/Zanik Pt.2

After losing Kidawe, these two go off and join a bandit group.. Yes the same vampire clan group. Adoren thrives in the group, he his strong and more then willing to get his hands dirty. Zanik.. Not so much. Zanik is only kept around because of Adoren. They all know not to mess with Zanik or else they mess with Adoren.

After spending a few years with them, Adoren decides he can't continue this. Zanik begs him not to leave, trying to make the orc realize that this group will not let them go without hurting them. Adoren doesn't listen and leaves the bandits, later that day the stronghold is burnt to the ground. Adoren looses everything in the fire, his parents pass away, his friends and family. Instead of processing lose normally, he makes it up in his head that the reason Zanik was warning him was because Zanik had a hand in it. Therefore the two fight and Adoren punches Zanik, he's wearing a ring that catches under Zanik's flesh and pratically tears off his cheek leaving the dunmer with a horrible scar. Adoren warns Zanik never to speak with him again.

Which of course doesn't stand because after they grew up into old men, they cross eachother's paths once more. They both join up with the good guy group at different times, Adoren joins first after he finds them in his house, and Zanik joins when he is once again found washed up on the shore.

Zorlin

Not much on this boio, he was my first oc in the Elder Scrolls. He's an argonian heavy set warrior. Zorlin is silent and cut throat, he is a part of the Brotherhood and only joins the good guy group after his brother, Tu'ru is 'murdered' by Raeferth.

Tristane

There is so much on him. I'm just going to do bullet points:

Born in Skyrim 200+ years ago. He never knew his true parents and was instead brought up by a wealthy noble family. They more kept him around for labor.

He befriends 3 local kids, Mayrn (breton like him), Raeferth (nord trouble maker), and Lynik (Raeferth's brother).

They all cause problems and Tristane falls in love with Raeferth :D

One day Raeferth claims to have found immortality, Tristane instantly says "No, I'm not doing this." And leaves the friend group, trying to focus on himself.

He is then framed for a crime he didn't commit and sent to Cyrodiil's Imperial Prison. Then he is bailed out by the Emperor and sent to Morrowind.

Morrowind happens, Tristane changes from whining child to even whiner child with the ability to cast spells.

After Morrowind, Tristane travels to Solstiem where he is confronted with Mayrn and Lynik (both as bandit vampires).

Mayrn and Lynik try to force him back to Skyrim to see Raeferth and join them. Tristane, as he said before, says "no". So they kill him.

Now they don't really kill him, they use a method I made up called Soul Gem Reflection. This is something I completely made up but I like it so sue me. I can write an entire post on this alone so we're just gonne say, "Soul gem reflection is a method in which the targets soul is directed towards an object they held dear in life instead of dying. They're life essence is held in the soul gem, but they live in the object."

In this case, Tristane was reflected in his journal.

Lynik felt horrible for doing this to his friend, he felt guilty and returned the journal which he unknowingly relfected the breton in, and gave it to Tristane's family who in turn stuffed the journal in the basement.

Fast forward 200+ years and Adoren buys the manor, finding Tristane's journal inside and opening it. Surprise! Out springs a ghostly figure of Tristane who then convinced Adoren to take him along with the group!

Other Characters:

This is J'ar. He's mentioned above.

Also, here's some more character that aren't affiliated with the group:

-Baendil and Baendal are bosmer brothers, they were abandoned by their parents and instead found by cranky altmer father Kornan. They're bandits (not related to vampires at all). They're bad, not morally wrong but actually just bad at being bandits. They couldn't rob you even if you asked them to.

-I will add more later I'm sure.

#tes #the elder scrolls #skyrim #my art :)#oblivion #khajiit #bosmer #morrowind #dunmer #orc #nord #imperial #argonian

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russellsportfolio · 3 years

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Greco-Roman Architectural Advancements

In modern days, houses and buildings are not seen as important. They are styled plainly, often copied-and-pasted in boulevards too close together, with an inability to change. Often apartments and downtown buildings are simple squares, and only seem to differ when they are a part of history themselves. Construction is not seen as an honorable job, more heavy labor work done by people who are depicted as uncaring or crude. It is an unfortunate reality that we live in, especially in comparison to the days in early BCE and CE years. During the times of Greece and Rome, beautiful architecture was created daily with tools and inventions that humanity still uses today.

Having preceded the Roman Empire by at least 200 years, Ancient Greece was able to become the main inventor and producer of many architectural advancements. Most Greek work was an emphasis on mathematical and stylistic perfection. Though it does not entirely pertain to architecture, it is important to note how important Polykleitos’s Canon was to the entirety of Greece in this way. According to him, if a building’s proportions were accurate, then that building would be aesthetically pleasing. A great example of this is the Parthenon, where the equation x=2y+1 was able to successfully figure out most of the column-related proportions. One thing that certainly helped such perfection be reached in daily life was Hippodamas and his invention of straight grid planning. This creation paved the way into city planning, and is an invention that is still very commonly used today. With a grid, all of those specific equations are already completely laid out, making the job of finding perfect proportions that much easier. In a time where shortcuts weren’t all that abundant, having tools such as grids were a great help in future creations.

Something else that Greek created were the different columns. Doric, ionic, and eventually corinthian columns became extremely popular both as support beams and as elaborate decorations to shrines and temples all throughout Greece. All the different parts of each column ensured that every temple would remain unique throughout its construction. The styles even developed a specific list of rules to follow, and the fact that those rules are contradictory didn’t stop these columns from appearing on just about every temple for the next couple millenia, turning a popular style into tradition.

Despite its late start, Rome took to creating just as quickly as Greece. The main exception was Rome’s ability to be “inspired” from previous creations in order to create a style of its own. The biggest development that these people made was the invention of concrete. All of a sudden, architecture didn’t have to rely on heavy stone like marble to cover their roofs. They could, and quite literally did, reach for the sky through its perfection. They kept circular domes from collapsing by maintaining a thick foundation full of heavy basalt and gradually thinning it and replacing stone with porous pumice. With this, buildings could be circular rather than octagonal, walls could be smoother without being too heavy, and towering ceilings can be lovingly made..

Roman architecture, despite all its similarities with Greece, truly made its own place in history books with the altering of columns into arches, and arches into vaults. Some of the most famous Roman masterpieces carry this fascination with dome-shaped decorations, such as the Colosseum. However, even day-to-day places like bath houses and temples often were embellished with these tops. While some stuck with the tried-and-true method of large stone blocks shaped in arches, others used the more modernized version of combining stone bricks with concrete and letting it harden in the proper shape. It was a style that was truly Roman.

A wonderful example of these factors working together are the aqueducts. These were important, as they were used to siphon mountain water down to the people, so as such it was treated carefully. Arches are turned into bridges and used to support the tunnels leading from one point to the other, providing both of its uses as support and elegance. Cement lined the stone brick walls of the entire structure, creating a pathway that was completely watertight. No cracks were around to let the water slip through. Aqueducts are just as pleasing as they are useful, and the fact that many of them still stand thousands of years later, at least one still in use, prove just how successful this combination was. It quite literally paved the way for future endeavors.

However, after multiple millennia of architectural investments and inventions, things began to decline in the Roman period. Due to the exhausting repetition of creating for rulers who would shortly die and be replaced, people began to feel too tired to be as elaborate. As such, construction became less detailed and creative, and took similar structures from other buildings in order to get the job done. Not that the works that came out of this period weren’t pretty, they were just simpler, and more of the emphasis was placed on the interior and the meanings behind each building.

The Greek and Roman periods are arguably the most important eras of human history. They created the Classical standard, delved into extreme realism, and made huge architectural developments in order to create masterpieces. Many of the tools and inventions created in this time are still used today, albeit in less extravagant ways. It would be a nice change in our digital, minimalistic world to see sculpture-making and architecture become as popular and abundant as it was in those times. A lot of things would have to change in order to pave that path, especially as we have evolved past many of the important attributes and methods, but it would certainly make for a more beautiful reality.

#written August 2021 #bad essays by Blumi Crec

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best-ways-to-business · 3 years

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How To Start Your Online Business In A Matter Of Few Minutes And Still Rake In Thousands Of Dollars Every Month?

Now, I know you probably already know what it is, but for those who are still mystified, here is the official definition. Simply put, affiliate marketing is the promotion of another person’s product in exchange for a percentage of the merchant’s item if and only if people buy the merchant’s item through your link.As a result, we can say that it is some kind of online multi-level marketing.Why did I say that? Because many of these programs are two-tiered, you can refer to another affiliate beneath you. You will receive a percentage of his or her sales whenever he or she makes them.3. How do I get started? Do you want to make $10,466 per month without creating your own products? If you want to, continue reading.

1. So What Is It?

It’s referred to as affiliate marketing. I’m sure you’ve heard of it a million times by now, but did you know that it’s one of the simplest and quickest ways to start your online business and earn thousands of dollars every month?

2. What's Affiliate Marketing?

As a result, we can say that it is some kind of online multi-level marketing.

Why did I say that? Because many of these programs are two-tiered, you can refer to another affiliate beneath you. You will receive a percentage of his or her sales whenever he or she makes them.

3. How do I get started?

Now, finally on to what really matters!

First and foremost, you must determine which niche you wish to enter. For example, if you are a crazed golfer, you are more likely to promote golf equipment than fishing equipment.

Then, to estimate the competition, go to Google and type in your relevant term, such as beginner golf guide, and see how many sites on that subject already exist.

Personally, I am unconcerned about competition; if there is more competition, you will have to wait longer to make a profit, and vice versa. It’s really that simple.

However, make sure to do something you truly enjoy, because it will ultimately determine the success or failure of your company.

4. Let's Find The Eager-To-Give You Money Merchant

You should now have a good idea of which niche you want to enter. The next step is to identify potential merchants who can provide you with the potential income you’ve always desired.

To expedite the process, we will select them from the affiliate programs directory. Affiliate programs directory is a website that has already done the legwork for us in determining which one the potential merchant, so all you have to do is decide which one you want to embrace.

The best ones that I have used are:

ClickBank: https://tinyurl.com/Get-ClickBank-and-earn-money

Digistore: https://tinyurl.com/Get-Digistore-and-earn-money

5. Skyscraper Website versus Mini Content Site

As of this writing, there are two current points of view:

The first rule is that in order to earn money from an affiliate program, you must build a skyscraper site and fill it with hundreds of pages of content. The second point is that in order to make money from affiliate programs, you must create multiple streams of mini-sites.

Which one is effective?

Both work; it is ultimately up to you which one you want to use. For example, you can see the first one in action at www.sage-hearts.com, which is run by Rosalind Gardner, and the second one at www.neilpatel.com, which is run by Neil Patel. (Actually, I haven’t asked their permission to cover their website in this article, but I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if I did.)

Both affiliate marketers and internet marketers are highly respected and acclaimed.

Here are the advantages and disadvantages:

If you decide to create a mini-site, you will have to forego the possibility of receiving traffic from a generic search engine.

If you decide to build a skyscraper content site, you will need to invest a significant amount of time and energy into it.

Re-inventing the wheel is a bad idea. There is no point in doing so; simply stick to what works. Examine both of their websites carefully and determine which parts can be adapted to your business model.

BONUS: For those who want to start their business off the right way (whether you are creating a skyscraper website or a mini one), and want to get a limited all-in-one FREE package, Read my other article explaining how to do so!

6. Now Ready to Drive Traffic?

Now onto the part that actually makes you money!

Now that you have a tried-and-true business model, it’s time to drive traffic to your website. I would recommend that you begin by creating a reciprocal link campaign. The act of exchanging links between two sites in the hope of sending traffic to each other is known as reciprocal linking.

Let us put it into practice.

Enter your keywords into the search engine once more, then click on each of the sites you found, and if you like it, carefully examine it. Is there something like submit URL or add URL?

If they clicked on the link, there should be simple instructions to exchange your link with that website, but what if they didn’t have one? Just contact them through email or phone and ask if they're willing to do a reciprocal link with you.

What's great about this method? Here's what will happen

Let's say after doing reciprocal links for one month at the end of the month you get 30 links. Each one refers one person per day to your site, now you already have 30 people visit your site without you doing a thing. In one month you will get 900 people to visit your site on complete autopilot. That's the beauty of reciprocal link =)

What happens if you can manage to get 200 links?

7. Final Note

If you want to see results, you must put in the effort and perseverance that you would in any other endeavor. Don’t expect a result in a week; that would be unrealistic; instead, expect it in a year or so. Trust me, even if it seems far away at first, your perseverance will pay off many times over.

FINALLY, Thank you for reading my article hope you understood what to do and will now take action!

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#how to make money on clickbank #affiliatemarketing #business #developers & startups #how to make money fast

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betterpathoflyfe · 3 years

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Perfectionism + Procrastination = Correlation? An Article Review - 3/29/21

As you scroll through my blog, you may have noticed that I touch on this phenomenon known as perfectionism. I harp on it mainly because it is something that I struggled with for the longest. Whether it was my work or my relationships, I was convinced that I had to be perfect or at least strive for perfection in everything I do.

What a lie!

Now while I still struggle with it here and there, I can honestly say that I’ve improved so much in this aspect. The leadership roles and responsibilities really exposed this part of me and whenever I tried to be perfect, I just ended up feeling more miserable than before. Yet, even though I was caught in this constant loop of perfectionism, I was equally caught in this constant loop of procrastination. Which...didn’t make sense to me...because how can I be a perfectionist and a procrastinator, right?

Yet, I’ve seen more and more information that indicates a potential correlation between perfectionism and procrastination. The most accurate thing I had heard was that people who are perfectionists obsess over the task at hand, that they put off until they know they can do it perfectly. When I heard that, I was like “hm! Sounds like...me!”

Nevertheless, I’ve been wanting to do some more serious research about this possible correlation, and since we’ve been reading various scholarly articles in my PSY-343 course, I figured I’d use our databases and find some articles about this connection. The most recent article that I found, written in 2018, was a meta-analysis that examined this relationship between perfectionism and multidimensional perfectionism. So, without further ado, here is my article review about their findings (I'll give my final thoughts at the end):

Perfectionism & Procrastination = Correlation? An Article Review Covering Procrastination and Multidimensional Perfectionism

Xie et al. (2018), defined procrastination as either a delay or tendency to rush in a certain aspect. Procrastination has been on the rise, especially among students, as 50% of students procrastinate on a concerningly consistent basis (Xie et al., 2018). It is also present among adults, as 20% procrastinate in general, whether it be on work-related items or daily tasks in their lives. It is no secret that procrastination has reaped negative results, as students who procrastinate tend to receive lower grades on their assignments compared to their peers, causing them to feel more anxious and stressed by the end of the specific course that they are procrastinating in (Xie et al., 2018). While researchers explored various models that investigated the factors influencing procrastination, the only model that seemed to provide results is the Temporal Motivational Theory (TMT), an integrative motivational model (Steel & Konig, 2006). Within this model, the researchers found that personality traits, particularly conscientiousness, are significant predictors of procrastination (Xie et al., 2018).

Perfectionism, on the other hand, was defined as a personality trait, where individuals have exceedingly high stands for themselves, yet also having extreme self-critical evaluation (Xie et al., 2018). Researchers went further, explaining how perfectionists adapt irrational beliefs that they have to be perfect, yet rarely feel content in what they do.

Now in investigating the potential correlation between these two concepts, Xie et al. (2018), noted that research studies in the past have reported inconsistent results, as some researchers found a positive correlation between the two, while others found a negative correlation. Yet, it was not until the development of the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS) by Frost et al. (1990), that research in this area began to make headway. Based on inspiration from this original scale, researchers Stoeber and Otto (2006) were able to classify perfectionism into two dimensions. The first is perfectionistic strivings, which the researchers defined as a positive form of perfectionism, and includes high personal performance standards & self-oriented striving for perfectionism (Xie et al., 2018). The second is perfectionistic concerns, defined as a negative form of perfectionism, and includes doubts about actions, concerns about expectations vs results, and conforming to socially defined perfectionism (Xie et al., 2018). In other words, healthy perfectionism and unhealthy perfectionism. These two dimensions have, in turn, aided researchers in better understanding this possible correlation.

Based on these two dimensions, Xie et al. (2018) hypothesized that perfectionistic strivings would be negatively correlated to procrastination, while perfectionistic concerns would be positively correlated to procrastination. The researchers also wanted to investigate the various moderators that influence this possible correlation, including age, gender, and especially self-efficacy, defined as an individual's belief that they can accomplish a certain task with their own skills (Xie et al., 2018).

To test their hypothesis, the researchers conducted a literature search and selected studies that, among other factors, measured perfectionism using a multidimensional perfectionism scale, that used a measure of procrastination, and that used a general self-efficacy scale (Xie et al., 2018). Using this criterion, a total of 23 articles were used (with two being used in a mediation model), and within these articles, a total of 14, 604 participants utilized from 56 samples (Xie et al., 2018). The articles were then coded based on measures and indicators of perfectionistic strivings, perfectionistic concerns, procrastination, and several others relating to these three aspects (Xie et al., 2018). After coding the articles, Xie et al. (2018) conducted meta-analyses, which included the utilization of a two-stage structural equation modeling (TSSEM) method to assess the mediation model that the researchers utilized.

The results showed a negatively significant mean-weighted correlation (r = -.136) for the correlation between perfectionistic strivings and procrastination, and a positively significant mean-weighted correlation (r = .200) for the correlation between perfectionistic concerns and procrastination (Xie et al., 2018). This shows that the researchers were correct in their hypothesis; those who had aspects of unhealthy perfectionism were more likely to procrastinate as opposed to those who had healthy perfectionism.

In terms of the moderator variables, Xie et al. (2018) found interesting results. When it came to age, the researchers found that it didn't play a significant role in its affecting the correlation between procrastination and multidimensional perfectionism (Xie et al., 2018). For gender, the researchers found that gender was not significant in the correlation between procrastination and perfectionistic strivings, but was significant in the correlation between procrastination and perfectionistic concerns (Xie et al., 2018). Within the latter, though, Xie et al. (2018) found that males with high perfectionistic concerns were more likely to procrastinate than women. But again, this moderator was weak. In terms of the measures within the articles that were used to measure perfectionism, the HMPS was the highest in showing the correlation between procrastination and perfectionistic strivings, while the APS-R was the highest in showing the correlation between procrastination and perfectionistic concerns (Xie et al., 2018). For the measures within the articles that were used to measure procrastination, that 4 of the measures showed that the PASS showed significant indicators of perfectionistic strivings, while the TPS was the highest in showing the correlation between procrastination and perfectionistic concerns (Xie et al., 2018).

When the researchers observed the mediation model's results in relation to the mediator, self-efficacy, they found that the results were statistically significant (r = .362) in the effect of perfectionism and procrastination through self-efficacy (Xie et al., 2018).

That being said, while the researcher's hypothesis was proven true, this was the first review that actually took an in-depth look at the relationship between procrastination and multidimensional perfectionism. Due to this, other studies need to be done to determine if there is validity as well as reliability within their findings. Nevertheless, it is a significant study that provides some insight into this correlation.

References

Frost, R. O., Marten, P., Lahart, C., & Rosenblate, R. (1990). The dimensions of perfectionism. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14, 449-468. https://doi.org/cw8

Steel, P., & Konig, C. J. (2006). Integrating theories of motivation. Academy of Management Review, 3, 889-913. https://doi.org/bsn6kw

Stoeber, J., & Otto, K. (2006). Positive conceptions of perfectionism: Approaches, evidence, challenges. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10, 295-319. https://doi.org/bdkhzj

Xie, Y., Yang, J., & Chen., F. (2018). Procrastination and multidimensional perfectionism: A meta-analysis of main, mediating, and moderating effects. Social Behavior and Personality, 46(3), 395-408. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.6680

And that's the end of my article review! All in all, I thought that the article was really interesting, especially the differentiation between perfectionism strivings vs. concerns. Even though I knew that some perfectionistic tendencies could lead to impressive results in the task, I feel that I've focused and harbored the aspects associated with perfectionistic concerns. Nevertheless, this article showed me that there is positivity behind perfectionism and that I should focus more on utilizing it for my good (which can then help me combat this procrastination problem!).

Hopefully, you were provided with some insight into this topic as well, especially if you have found that you've adapted some negative perfectionistic ideals.

Side note: today's my sister's 28th birthday so happy birthday to her!!! It's 11:35PM now though(barely got this post in LOL), and I'm tired. Goodnight!

"Healthy striving is self-focused: How can I improve? Perfectionism is people-focused: What will they think?" - Brené Brown, Daring Greatly

~ May the Author

#blogposts

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gallagherwitt · 4 years

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Hey, writer folks, let's talk editing for a minute.

Lately I've seen some posts by a number of writers concerned about the editing process. In particular, what happens when your editor starts trampling your voice? Or when they start changing things that are clearly a matter of taste, not structural or grammatical issues? Or when their comments are rude or condescending? Or when you don't even recognize your own book anymore, and not in a good way?

Basically, what happens when you get your manuscript back from your editor, and you get that sick feeling in your stomach like "This is ruined"?

First, right off the bat, without even getting into whether the editor is right or wrong, it's a perfectly natural and acceptable reaction when you have some hardcore edits that involve massive revisions. This is especially true early in your career, but trust me, it doesn't magically go away. It's tough on the ego to see that manuscript you worked so hard on come back slathered in red. It's demoralizing. And it's okay if you feel that way!

You know what I do when I get a set of edits? I go through it one time and let my inner toddler go nuts. I mentally flail and push back and holler and roll my eyes and "oh my GOD that is BULLSHIT" and I eat a cookie. Then I put the manuscript aside. The next day, I take a deep breath and go through it again, and more often than not -- especially now that I'm mostly indie and I hire editors who I mesh with -- the comments and changes aren't so bad after all. So I 100% give you permission to do that if getting it out of your system helps.

THAT BEING SAID.

The inner toddler isn't always wrong. When I read through it the second time, if my eyebrows keep climbing until they touch my hairline, it's possible that something is amiss here besides my ego needing a nap.

So what happens when you and your editor disagree? How do you know if the problem is the editor or the manuscript? And how do you handle it? Well, that can be tough, and the answer usually comes down to communication.

But let me say this upfront: it's not just you. After 11 years in print, I'm creeping up on 200 titles in my catalogue. I have, shall we say, extensive experience with editors, and it hasn't always been good.

With one publisher, I had to hire a copy editor on my own to go through and undo all the errors *their* copy editor inserted, not to mention fix all the ones they'd missed. That's a pretty objective problem. If your editor is missing mistakes or ADDING mistakes, then you need a new editor. Period. Do NOT be afraid to go to your senior editor (or your agent), tell them what the problem is, and request someone new. If the problem isn't resolved or you're told "this editor does a perfectly good job," then consider that a sign that you and the publisher have differing standards on quality. You might have to grit your teeth through the process on your currently contracted book(s) (that's why I hired an outside editor for mine), but consider not submitting to that publisher in the future. If you're an indie author who hired your own editor, you can fortunately choose not to use them again.

Sometimes it's a personality clash or a difference in taste or style. Maybe the editor's method of communicating rubs you the wrong way. I had an editor who thought that since I'm fairly sarcastic with a dry sense of humor most of the time, that would be an effective way of communicating via comments in a manuscript.

Spoiler: it was not. I have a thick skin when it comes to writing, but if I feel like my editor is making fun of me, talking down to me, or yelling at me, I shut down. I can't work like that. Solution: ask the editor to do things differently or ask for another editor. DO NOT grin and bear it if your editor is communicating in a way that's hurtful or counterproductive. You're equal partners here, and you have a right to be treated with respect. It's okay to say so if you feel that's not happening.

I also had an editor who did line edits by making the change they wanted to see rather than putting in a comment about how and why they thought it should change. I really liked that because in comparing my original to the tracked change, I could see what they were getting at, and even if I didn't accept their change in its entirety, it was a good way to communicate the issue to me. For us, it worked really well.

But that approach had the opposite effect on another author, who felt like the editor was stomping on their voice and just changing things willy nilly. Neither of us was wrong, it was just different people responding to different means of communication. In that instance, simply approach the editor, explain why you would prefer they made comments instead of changes, and see what happens. If they're willing to do so, great! If not, you and the editor might not be compatible. That doesn't make you a diva or them a bad editor, it just means you're not a good match. That's okay!

Also, if they've made a suggestion or recommended a change, and you disagree with it or don't understand it, sometimes just typing out your concerns in an email or a reply to their comment can resolve it. I can't tell you how many times I've been in the middle of explaining to an editor why I wanted to keep something the way it was, and I talked myself right into a solution to their comment that I was happy with. The solution wasn't always what they'd initially recommended, but the result was that the problem they'd pointed out was fixed.

Which is another thing to keep in mind: if your editor suggests you do X to fix a problem, but you don't like X, think about WHY they want you to do it. What is X fixing? One of my editors told me "There isn't enough tension in this scene, so I recommend cutting it by 10% to tighten it up." I tried. Lord, I tried. But there was no way I could cut anything without losing vital information. So I revisited the comment. The problem wasn't that it needed to lose 10%. The problem was there wasn't enough tension. In the end, I ratcheted up the tension....by *adding* 10%.

So sometimes it's just a matter of stepping back and asking yourself, is this editor stomping all over your voice and tearing apart your work in a way you disagree with? Or is it a difference in communication style? Are they trying to hijack my book? Or does their suggestion illustrate a problem which I can fix in a way that is more satisfying to me and more in line with my story?

Also, a lot of writers have come of age hearing that you toe the line and do what your editor tells you to, or else you'll get blacklisted for being difficult. And to some extent, sure, you CAN cultivate a reputation for being an unreasonable diva, but there is an enormous gap between diva status and being a professional asking to be treated accordingly. If you feel your editor is being rude or they're hurting your story, say so. If you think there's a lapse in communication somewhere, say so.

If you don't understand something, ask. When my current editor makes suggestions for significant changes, it's not unusual at all for me to email her first and say "I'm thinking of doing X, Y, and Z to fix A, B, and C. What do you think?" Or "You suggested A, B, and C, but I think if I do X, Y, and Z it'll work better because... What do you think?" And we'll go back and forth a little before I ever touch the manuscript. It works beautifully, and I'm always confident going into the edits that I understand what the issues are and how to fix them. You're not alone when you're editing! Your editor is there to help you and to work with you, and if they won't do that, they're not doing their job!

Seeing a pattern here? Communication is crucial. If you aren't comfortable with something, or you don't understand something, or the way the editor is communicating isn't working for you, it's okay to speak up. It goes without saying that you need to be professional about it, but don't buy into the idea that for authors, "being professional" means gritting your teeth and taking whatever your editor shells out.

And yes, if you absolutely cannot work with an editor -- if just thinking about looking at that manuscript spikes your anxiety like a tornado siren just went off because the comments are rude, the changes are uncalled for, or something is just OFF -- it is acceptable to say "This author-editor relationship isn't working for me."

Yes, you can break up with your editor.

Obviously that's easiest for indie authors. We just...don't hire that editor again. With publishers, it's a little more complicated, but it CAN be done!

In just over a decade, there has been one occasion where I stopped midway through the edits, emailed the senior editor, and said "I'm not working with this person anymore. I want a new editor." This came after a round of edits left me so emotionally wrung out and beaten down that I was literally in tears over it, and if you know me, you know that says A LOT. The first draft of my email basically said "You know what? This book is obviously garbage. Let's just cancel it." I felt that bad about the whole thing. But after talking to some industry friends, I pulled myself together, realized the book was not the problem, and I sent a firmly-worded but still professional email to my senior editor.

You know what happened? I got a new editor. We scrapped the existing edits, started over, and it was like night and day. The edits were still intense, but they were reasonable, and instead of feeling like I was being told to nuke the book from orbit and start over, I felt like I was course correcting. In the end, readers loved the book, and I continued working with that editor for a long time because we meshed so flawlessly.

If you find yourself in a situation like this, and you're not sure if it's just you, run it by some trusted writer buddies. Ask some long-published veteran authors. It's okay to say "Something about this doesn't feel right -- what do you think?"

Don't suffer in silence! Get feedback from a third party. Talk to your editor. Talk to your senior editor or your agent if you have them. It could be just a simple miscommunication. It could be that you and this editor aren't compatible. But if no one knows you're struggling, they can't help.

And honestly, if there's one thing I've learned in working with literally dozens of editors over the years, it's that most of them genuinely do want you to succeed, and they want you to be happy with your book. If they do, they'll also meet you in the middle and try to make the whole process work for both of you. If they don't, well, then that's somebody you probably don't want to work with again if you can help it.

To recap:

Talk to your editor if you have concerns or if something isn't working.

Talk to your senior editor or agent (if you have them) if you think a new editor would be the best solution.

If you're truly unhappy with an editor, you might be stuck with them for the duration of one book or series, depending on your contract, but beyond contractual obligations, it's okay to choose not to work with them again. (And if it's really not a good situation, push for a different editor.)

If an author and editor disagree, the author is not wrong by default. Neither is the editor.

Communicate, communicate, communicate.

Remember that you are colleagues, and you should expect to be treated accordingly.

Sometimes calmly explaining to your editor why you disagree with or don't understand their comment can lead your thought process right to the solution.

It's YOUR book. In the end, YOU should be happy with it. Your editor should be on your side.

You are not obligated to correct a problem in the manner your editor suggested. Most problems have multiple possible solutions!

It's totally okay to email your editor and ask for clarification, bounce ideas off them for solutions, etc.

So go forth and bravely tackle those edits, but communicate like whoa and trust your gut if something doesn't feel right!

#writing #amwriting #editing #editor #authors #Author #writer #writerlife

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jjkfire · 3 years

Text

“this makes me want to follow your footsteps but i have paranoia about losing money! how did you assess what you wanted to invest in / when was the right time to sell?” - @joonapeach

i would’ve answered you in the comments but it’s much easier to explain in a post like this!

first, you need to set aside that fear. investing is a long game. it is a fact that you will see your portfolio ‘lose’ money over the time you invest, but i will explain why it doesn’t matter. also please watch the video i linked in that ask. it’s basically what i will say here but soooo much better lol.

so, a very famous, tried and true method of investing is index fund investing. this means you don't pick a single stock but rather you are investing in the top 500 stocks in the U.S. one such index fund is called VOO and is generally what is recommended nowadays. VOO wasn't around until 2010. so, for this explanation i will be using SPY which is a similar index fund. So, say you started investing in SPY in July 2000. The stock is at $148 at this point and the previous years, it's been looking pretty good! so, you're super excited to get started. but then huh, it just doesn't seem to get better, it keeps going down... and down... even hitting $89 at 2002. it’s a slow recovery from there and then finally! in 2007, it goes to like $150! you're making money!!! and then 2008 comes. the housing bubble crash happens and wtf it's sinking to $76! doesn't matter, you think. you just keep buying bc it’s literally almost half of what it was in 2000. then 2010 it starts to recover and it hits $110. now, it starts to get interesting.

2011, it hits 130. 2012, $140. 2013, $160. hmmm look at that, you're higher than when you started in 2000 already. but we're not done yet. 2014, $200. 2015, $210. 2016, $220. 2017, $240. 2018, $280. 2019, $300. Unbeatable all time highs!!!

then 2020 comes and everyone's thinking this thing is going to the moon! It hits $330 in February and then all at once, in March, COVID hits and it sinks like a rock, all the way down to $220. this is what i personally call a SALE. if i were you, i would have bought a crazy amount. because here we are, December 2020 at $364. Yes, the market recovered a whole ass $144 dollars in 10 months from March to December (which is insane because it usually takes years for this to happen). Here’s the chart below to see how crazy the growth is.

So, you started at $148, now here you are 20 years later at $364. the main point of this was to not sell when you saw it tank and to keep investing despite the fact that you 'lost' money. i am so sure thousands of people decided to sell in march as they watched the stock market gap down further and further every day in march but if they had just held... look at where they would be today? it was $346 in Feb 2020, crashed to $220 in March then recovered to $364 in December... that's higher than what it was in February where everything was looking rosy for the year. the thing is if you don't think america is going to go bankrupt and completely implode then, just hold and sell when you're planning to retire. oh and here’s an article on how to be a millionaire in 20 years. you can just google ‘millionaire index fund’ to see stories of people becoming millionaires. anyway, you don’t need stories. the math is undeniable.

i don't recommend single stock investing unless you are prepared for it to not pan out at all. it's a bigger risk than an index fund. An index fund is you betting on the entire American stock market. It can have a bad year, two, maybe three (as you saw above) but it will recover. a company on the other hand, tomorrow you can find out they've been cooking the books and you may never recover your money ever. so, that's something to consider. if you want to invest in single stocks, you can always pick companies you think will be here in the next 20 years. that can be apple, microsoft, amazon, coca-cola, pepsi, yada yada but again that's... you never really know. GE aka General Electric which is a very big and well known company, their stock was worth $57 in 2000 and today it is worth $12. on the flip side is Amazon that was worth $120 in 2009 but it is worth $3090 today. yeah, that isn't a typo. so, that's picking a stock for ya. not all of us are amazing and can pick the best stocks all the time. you're bound to pick losers. so, index fund where it's the whole american market is the 'safest' and profitable too. remember that during index fund investing, a loss isn’t a loss until you sell. if you just hold, even if your 330 drops to 220, it doesn’t matter unless you sell. if you sell at 220, that means you lose money. if you just wait until it recovers, you’re back at 364 and you sell, that’s profit. you must remember to NEVER panic sell. also why VOO over SPY? VOO has a lower expense ratio. what does that mean? google will tell ya 😉

my main point is if you don’t want to invest yet, that’s okay. at the very least learn about it so when the time comes, you are ready. i started learning in 2018, started investing in 2019 and then the covid crash came in 2020 and it was such an amazing opportunity. imagine if i started learning just as it crashed? it wouldn’t have been great probably lol. all i’m saying is that there’s no harm in learning! market tends to crash every 10-15 years or so. yeah, so... start learning!!! do your own research as there are so many youtube videos out there. and again r/personalfinance subreddit is good once you’ve watched graham’s videos. there’s the 401k and all of that to think about too.

#invest! please!#or at least learn the basics #you can be a millionaire i swear

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abjectaspiringfailure · 4 years

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Hello, in your response to one of my previous asks you mentioned that rc cells functioned like the Blacklight Virus did in Prototype. If I may ask, how so? Also, on a more random note, what would you think if there were a one-eyed ghoul featured in the series who was like Alex Mercer?

Hello, in your response to one of my previous asks you mentioned that rc cells functioned like the Blacklight Virus did in Prototype. If I may ask, how so?

Sorry this took so long to get to.

So as a preface for this post, I don’t personally believe Ishida was invoking these things in a way where he thought “this is primarily meant to be seen through the lens of the original 2009 [PROTOTYPE]”, but it is an interesting coincidence. Both Tokyo Ghoul and Prototype have a unique design style, and the result is a story that if you rush through will leave you going “well I guess things are complete but uh.... what?” Which is why Tokyo Ghoul had such a vast meta community that formed, and why Prototype has an active theory crafting community given its size and relative obscurity. Both have a web of intrigue that needed to be solved to get a good grasp on the story and arguably many things of importance are said and done offscreen.

I got absorbed in going on about both Prototype and Tokyo Ghoul, so I’m going back to put this here. I enjoyed how both of these series were basically puzzles to be solved, and I think both are misunderstood (though Tokyo Ghoul moreso than Prototype). I ended up writing a lot about the similarities that pertained to the question in the sense that there were ways the virus and RC cells had some similarities, but I ended up trimming it down significantly. So uh.

DX1118 functions by rewriting the host’s DNA to replicate. In most cases, there is death via organ failure. What “failure” and “lethality” means in the case of DX1118 is varied just like it is in Tokyo Ghoul with “success” and “floppies”; although the virus kills people, it brings them back as monsters. I’m tempted to believe this is referring to the attempts to weaponize the virus in the sense of creating super soldiers; a prelude to the DX1120 variant. The one mentioned to be Redlight explicitly has a 99.999 lethality rate.

In the case of DX1118 and its offshoots, “releasing what’s already there” means activating the non-coding areas of the genome. Essentially, the powers bestowed upon those who survive the virus in Prototype are not the result of the virus by itself, but rather the virus using things inside the human genome for mutations. The human genome actually has a rather hefty chunk of it made out of viruses that infected our ancestors and stayed in their system, roughly about 4 - 8%.

I see Tokyo Ghoul humans as naturally progressing towards becoming ghouls due to RC cells and the way they adapted to the humans and influenced their genetic development. RC cells are not normal for humans, but the humans of the Tokyo Ghoul universe do not understand that because it seems to be the only thing they have ever known. An RC count of 200 - 500 is considered healthy and average. I believe RC cells are much like the viruses that inhabit the human genome; they’re something that’s been there all along in the Tokyo Ghoul universe.

I believe ghouls aren’t the result of just an entirely new species developing entirely separately but coincidentally being mirror replicas of humans down to anatomy, blood types, thought patterns, bone structures, and their ability to swap organs, but rather something that is the result of the RC cells in the system mutating them into new entities over time. RC cells, like the Blacklight virus, are very mutagenic. Unlike the Blacklight virus, I see most of these changes as being more gradual in the line of human -> ghoul.

It would go human - > human with “special investigator genes” (with RC cells that normal human levels but ghoul quality) -> human with “special investigator genes” and latent ROS genes having children with someone in the same position -> ghoul who cannot use a kagune (such as G&G) -> ghoul who can use a kagune -> ghoul with kakuja mutation genes - > ghoul with kakuja genes having children with kakuja genes - > kakuja

It’s more complex than that because of the way Ishida spread the information about with regards to ghoul and human biology. There’s also a lot of stuff that goes into that, with regards to ROS in both humans and ghouls, and stuff that I feel needs to be expanded upon. Eg stuff about the Oggai’s Frame A/Frame B divide, Nutcracker’s RC levels being listed as explicitly two separate types, kagunes and kakujas showing a consistent pattern of having traits of two RC types, Urie’s One Eye (Frame A)/Two Eye (Frame B), the Washuu breeding program, and how this all factors together (in the way I see it).

To get back to Blacklight and the similarities, I said this in the post you’re referring to, but I don’t think the Dragon toxin caused “ROS like symptoms”, I think the Dragon just caused ROS by increasing the RC cell levels of anyone it touched while introducing Washuu “born kakuja” genetics that can apparently form extra kakuhou pretty easily. Because there was so many cases, there was too many people to treat at once, and therefore they turned into ghouls. Usually, because the disease is so rare and much slower, it’s more controllable.

Shirazu’s sister, for example, didn’t have her ROS caused by RC cells from something so severe and there weren’t hundreds of thousands of other people who were infected, so Haru’s ROS was both slower and the resources to control it were more readily available.

When it comes to DX1118 and its variants, and RC Cells, I’m of the opinion that they work in different methods, but the effects are similar. Blacklight’s origin and true purpose is greatly muddled due to the way Prototype is written. Like Tokyo Ghoul, multiple pieces of information are ambiguous or outright lies.

There were many differing stories about what the true purpose of the Blacklight virus was - ranging from some type of super human serum meant to increase human strength and intellect, to a weapon designed to kill off specific ethnic groups, to some evolutionary compound meant to force the planet to change into a new being, to some form of inevitability that would have to be engaged regardless. This makes a lot of the information involved murky; this is actually acknowledged in universe as being completely intentional. The actual origins of DX1118 isn’t stated, as far as we can tell from the information given, it just sort of popped up out of nowhere.

The origin of RC cells is also shrouded in mystery. Ghouls are a worldwide phenomenon, so, logically, RC cells should be universal. Otherwise, ghouls would not be able to feed. It is also stated that a normal, healthy human being has between 200 - 500 RC cells, which implies that not having any RC cells is considered either unhealthy or abnormal. I’d speculate that RC cells themselves would therefore have to be either hundreds of thousands of years old and tied to the evolution of humans in the Tokyo Ghoul universe, or, spread like a contagion. The Washuu themselves became “born Kakujas” due to centuries of cannibalization before they even made it to Japan, and by the the time the Washuu became known as legendary human ghoul hunters, they were already almost indistinguishable from the local population and were identified as Japanese nobility.

So, their origins are rather different, but they have the same air of mystery about them, and they touch on similar topics. The methods they get used is different, but the conspiracy has significant overlap.

The way Blacklight works when it infects a host is via changing the host cell by activating the non-coding regions of the genome. A substantial chunk of the human genome is actually believed to be now dormant viruses that infected our ancestors, who survived them, and lived on to procreate. In Prototype, this translates to the virus mutating the human body to achieve superhuman abilities, in theory? In actuality, the failure rates of the virus are rather substantial. But if you reword it, 99.9% lethality rate translates to a .1% success rate.

TG;re 44

These failure rates are comparable to the original Kanou kakuhou transplantation procedure, if less survivable. (This isn’t including the 99.999% lethality variant or the one that was made to be 10x more lethal and mutagenic than that). The failure rates for the Kanou procedure are substantial, but even the failures are reminiscent of the Blacklight “Runners” that are seen moving around the city - though that feels like it’s the result of the “zombies” theme.

TG;re 1

While I don’t recall if it’s ever stated how the DX1120 virus differs from the DX1118 variants, the D-Codes work using similar logic to the Qs and Oggai. Both use the “power of their enemy” to fight back against them, rather than using technology such as firearms. The description of the D-Codes is essentially the same as the Qs. They use the virus to increase their metabolism, strength, durability, and even regenerative functions.

The effort put into this biology system seemed immense, and the way the information is sprinkled in seems very organic.

There was other stuff about similarities between Arima and Cross, Blackwatch and V, Elizabeth Green and Roma/Eto/Rize, but I feel like that’s a bit off topic from the question, and I think this would have been answered immediately had I not tried to explore all of those avenues. I tried to keep this more on topic to the question, but I feel the flow regardless suffered. This is kinda the issue I have with ghoul biology stuff that threw a wrench into the post. It makes sense when you look at the big picture, but taking it all separately and dispersing it to a single point makes it seem nonsensical.

I kind of hope that explains it better. I’m going to try to revisit the ghoul biology post and just sorta accept that it’s not going to flow as easily as a character analysis post because it’s more technical in nature and the information is scattered between hundreds of chapters.

edit:

oh wait, forgot something.

Also, on a more random note, what would you think if there were a one-eyed ghoul featured in the series who was like Alex Mercer?

I think about this concept a lot. The idea of an Alex Mercer like character unwrapping things in Tokyo Ghoul sounds like an interesting concept. When you mean like Alex Mercer, you mean an AOEG that is trying to unravel the mysteries involved, and any time they eat someone’s RC cells, they get the knowledge inside of them type of deal? Alex Mercer as he is in the original Prototype would likely work with Aogiri Tree. Alex Mercer as he is in Prototype 2 would probably become a member of the Clowns as an actual member, or one of the philosophical Clowns that end up screwing over Kaneki and helping out the Clowns, like Yamori or Chie Hori.

Prototype Alex Mercer would probably start off opposed to both the CCG and Aogiri Tree, assuming you’re starting him off in Tokyo without his memories. He seems like he’d end up getting played, set up, and gaslighted by the Clowns like Kaneki, Eto, and Mutsuki were. I imagine Mercer would quickly turn sides though once they realizes V exists and they’d probably set their sights on killing off the Clowns. tbh Mercer would probably succeed. Alex Mercer’s mindset means initially they’re going to be dancing in the palm of their hands, but the powerset means it’s only a matter of time before everything gets revealed. Dealing almost solely in deception, gaslighting, and emotional manipulation is kind of an awful idea against a guy who can piece things together and blow your entire conspiracy to pieces. This would be like a “Karen Parker” situation, only the Clowns aren’t really used to hiding so much as sitting out in the open and none of them would be strong enough to beat someone with Alex Mercer’s powerset even in ghoul form tbh.

He’d probably join Aogiri Tree and Goat in the long run, even if briefly. The story would go off the rails long before Goat would form, though.

Alex Mercer at the end of Prototype is a different beast entirely but also kinda hard to figure out; the original writer wasn’t involved with a lot of the stuff after, and the Prototype 2 Alex Mercer feels like the original got consumed by like the Supreme Hunter and it just decided to wear his skin. Prototype 2 was originally Spiderman 4 before it was reskinned to be Protoype 2 so like everything was already set up and in place and it’s obvious that Father G was Uncle Ben, Mercer was Dr. Octavius, Heller was Peter, “viral sonar” is spidersense, etc. The writer that took over apparently hated Alex Mercer, from what I was told by people who talked to the guy. Isn’t really a good thing to go into writing with. Salt towards Alex Mercer being demonized is kinda universal. Heller had some good moments, but I felt his character was wasted. Wish the game just stayed as Spiderman 4, and Prototype 2 was on the Xbox One/PS4 rather than what Activision forced Radical to do.

I guess you could say that Prototype 2 is to the original Prototype what the anime is to Tokyo Ghoul.

But, we can infer things. It’s likely Mercer would be distrustful of everyone due to the experience with the Supreme Hunter, but very unsure of themselves. Automatic opposition to the scary conspiracy group is guaranteed. There’s an automatic opposition to killing indiscriminately from a character perspective even if the game doesn’t punish you for it; by the end, Alex is even fed up with killing soldiers who aren’t commanders. I’m not sure if he’d join up with Aogiri. Aogiri avoided civilian population centers and kept their targets military in nature, yes. On the other hand, they also just told ghouls like Torso “yo, knock it off, the CCG will getcha” and they let the Clowns or ghouls like Big Madam roam free and even worked with them, even if in the later case it was related to trying to see if Takizawa would awaken Haise’s memories.

Goat is a possibility. Kaneki’s strategy of disarming the CCG would probably be something Alex Mercer would go for. I imagine he’d also just go right for Furuta’s throat. The only reason this wasn’t done in the original Prototype was because Blackwatch’s commander was on the Reagan and was shooting anyone who got close out of the sky. Canonically the WOI does confirm an attempt to just fly therw with a helicopter only to get intercepted, and Alex also mentions that when they have their conversation with the Supreme Hunter.

Most likely though, Alex Mercer would end up working with Hide’s group and helping Kurona if he finds out about Kurona’s story. Especially Kurona. She’s simultaneously after a mad scientist who turned her into a monster, and she’s also Dana’s age. I see him helping her in her quest to get back at Kanou. With Hide, Alex sorta uses any help he can get, and Hide seems like he’d find Mercer because he’s just that good.

I think they would work with Eto if Eto opened up to them but.. Eto doesn’t really open up to people unless they violently maim her, like Kaneki or Arima. She might end up becoming interested in Alex if Alex starts trying to kill her, like Kaneki, but man. That’s not healthy.

Prototype 2 Alex Mercer, like I said, would likely be on board with the Clowns, but probably only from a philosophical sense. He agrees with their surface level stuff - the world is awful, people need to be killed, nothing matters, releasing giant monsters that kill millions is hilarious, innocent people deserve to be tortured, children are fair game, cause terror for lols, work with the conspiracy that controls the world while also killing its members because that’s fun and convenient, etc. Whether or not he ends up joining them outright or being like Yamori or Horie is up in the air, but I imagine he’d not be allowed. Furuta’s very good at analysis so I assume he’d see Alex as a threat from the get go and would keep him at a distance at all times.

Most likely it would end up in some weird battle with Mercer and Furuta being the main combatants just screwing with each other using secret agents, and Kaneki’s just. Kaneki. And gets stuck in the middle of it, just barely surviving. P2′s Mercer’s “here’s free viral powers kids” probably translates to kakuho implantation that’s even more casual than Eto’s, and his ability to just fire off viral clouds everywhere would most likely translate to him having the ability to just blast Dragon toxin. Alex in P2 gyrates pretty violently between “invincible and impossibly incompetent” to “literally so incompetent he gives the person trying to kill him the power to kill him and slowly feeds him powerups while letting them ruin his plans before stepping in and immediately giving up once a single attempt to murder them doesn’t work and then decides to go back to feeding them powerups until they can kill him” so.

I’m not sure if he’d like, do what Furuta did to Kaneki and give him the power to kill him, only entirely on purpose instead of accidentally, or if he’d just. Instantly vaporize all of his opponents.

He probably gives Eto, Kaneki, and Mutsuki power ups and then goes around trying to piss them off while claiming he’d trying to destroy V and Furuta. And he would actually, really, be trying to stop V and Furuta, but also he wouldn’t be, and he’s be working with them, but he wouldn’t.

He’d go to America, kill Heller’s family, and then turn Heller into a OEG that kills him.

You didn’t mention Heller, but there’s no way he’d be okay with V or the Clowns or probably even Anteiku (because Anteiku okayed set up civilian hunting grounds). He’d also oppose Aogiri Tree for the same reasons I think post Prototype 1 Alex would, but he might work with them like he did Rooks if he saw them as useful. The moment Furuta marches out the Oggai, if it came to that, he’d probably just go right for Furuta. The only reason Heller doesn’t do this with Mercer is because Mercer is hiding, but otherwise he’s pretty keen on just going to his current target and punching them in the face out in broad daylight surrounded by witnesses. And turning a bunch of children into the Oggai and having them go around slaughtering people would definitely set Heller off.

The story would also go off the rails.

I mean if you mean a One Eyed Ghoul with amnesia running around NYC slowly unraveling the secret surrounding V’s American Branch in the form of Blackwatch and imaging a scenario? I think that would be pretty cool, personally.

TG 141

There’s a lot of potential for a Tokyo Ghoul game in the style of Prototype. A lot of the powers that work in Prototype feel like they’d feel right at home in Tokyo Ghoul and vice verse. Eg the wallrunning could be explain with kagune wallrunning that Eto and Kaneki show. You could have a spiritual successor to Cross and some overarching super ghoul investigator counterpart to Arima, but his thing would be entirely different?

TG 112, 138

Less Arima’s “this literally doesn’t make sense, how did Arima hit that attack, he’s literally not holding anything and how did he just shoot lightning out of his quinque that can’t shoot lightning when he’s got that quinque in a box I originally thought this was an art mistake but he literally just keeps doing impossible things and they’re even lampshading in the manga so wait did he pull out Narukami and put it back into the box just to troll???”

(I think ishida does stuff like this where he messes with things like this for artistic reasons in this case it entirely works and helps hit home how invincible Arima is, and I originally thought it was art mistakes but it’s not)

And more “Shinohara, but on steroids”. Cross in Prototype was a very maneuverable surprisingly well armed opponent who could take a beating relative to most other enemies you faced outside of, for example, the Supreme Hunter. Similar type of opponent but also different. Like have the guy use multiple +SS and SSS rate quinques as standard, and he’s also got an SSS rate kakuja quinque and he can take a beating because of it, too. Not that he’s unskilled; he’s very skilled, just less so than Arima. Maybe have him also be the final boss like Arima was the final boss in the original Tokyo Ghoul, but just make him an absolute monster that completely and utterly destroys people. Maybe even have it be a no win scenario to fight the guy? Have it come up that “oh well this guy right here is attacking your friends but if you fight him, you’re going to die no matter what, don’t risk it” and you have a choice and if you choose to fight him, the game switches genres to horror and you just die. Not an easy fight to die in either.

They should definitely make a game about that. Just, spiritual successor to the original Prototype and have Detwiller and Ishida just run wild with the insane conspiracy theory story and their under the radar references to their knowledge of the military, economics, Kafka, numbers, trolling, and Lovecraft.

Just make the story impossible to understand, you know? You have to find 248 different cutscenes to get part of the story explicitly, and to unlock some of the cutscenes you have to hack into the game code to pull out poems made out of ASCII images of Ishida’s art. But to get the art, you have to pull a bunch of stuff off of twitter, relatively obscure secondary material, and some of it has to be found long after the launch of the game. Like, just maybe throw a random string of numbers into an art book released a year after the game was launched and have the numbers related to the code just hidden and you just... can’t find them? But only maybe, you’re not sure.

Throw Walt Williams from Spec Ops: The Line in there too. Have him contribute. All decisions are simultaneously wrong and correct at the same time. Nothing makes sense - but it totally does. You know what you’re doing is wrong. Or do you? None of these horrors would have happened if you’d just stopped, but you can’t stop. Not now, not when you’re so close. This person you’re pursuing, they’re definitely the bad guy. You’re in the clear. You’re not being tricked, you’re not mistaken, you made these decisions rationally. Your friends are in danger, you’re not bringing danger to them.

You feel so powerful and then boom, it happens. snap back to reality. And you should have seen it coming, but you didn’t. It’s not that it wasn’t there, it’s just that you weren’t looking - you decided “I’m not going to look”. You ignored what was right in front of you for some silly fantasy and it all hurts so much and oh god, everything is burning, help help help. Why didn’t anyone listen, I feel so alone.

and then have another spinoff spiritual successor flip from tokyo to new york in a surprise twist and it turns out that you were just starring in the villains’ self insert selfcest genderbender trollfic the e n t i r e t i m e or something it’s ambiguous I guess you gotta figure it out and no one will believe you and everything is just trolling

#tokyo ghoul #prototype #tg meta #tokyo ghoul biology #quinx #blacklight virus #Red child cells.#tokyo ghoul meta #superryunosukeyuki #alex mercer #Captain Cross #Arima Kishou

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ashmeadow96 · 4 years

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Wall-E AU let’s go...

With nothing better to do how about some backstories for the three protagonist?

Deku (D3-ku) (Backstory)

Deku or D3-ku is a custom Wall-E Unit designed by the Japanese Branch of BnL for the Asian Market.

These Wall-Es were designed after popular heroes which included heroes from pop culture and famous heroes of old.

The D3-ku was the last model ever made before the Humans left earth for the luxury spaceship Yuuei. So there were a lot less D3-ku models made before the big exodus this makes finding compatible repair parts difficult to find when out scavenging for “treasures”.

D3-ku was one of 300 Wall-E’s designated to clean the Musutafu area.

D3-ku or Deku, as he refers to himself, didn’t automatically develop a personality. Deku began to develop a personality 50 years after he was first turned on.

Through watching old segments of heroes on the big screens all over the public areas in Musutafu and the surrounding areas, Deku began to become obsessed with anything hero related.

He would sequester treasure related to any hero in secret places all over the sector he was designated to clean. He now has them all in his little trailer home.

His favorite finds were of the legendary hero from a Century ago All Might, which were rare.

His favorite All Might find was a role play child’s headband he sewed to his goggles to “look” like his favorite hero. To anyone else they look more like bunny ears.

It slowly became obvious that Deku was the only one who had a personality when he began to show human-like tendencies these included leaving work when the sun went down, making a home out of one of the abandoned Wall-En trailers, collecting All Might memorabilia, and watching old hero reels.

Deku was pretty lonely for a long time, unable to form any familial connections with the other D3-kus in his company, but continued to work beside his fellow D3-kus despite the lack of connection due to his directive.

Eventually, all the other D3-ku models and Wall-E models began to break down one by one.

200 years after the space ships left earth, the first clean up robot broke down. Eventually, Deku was the only one left. Then the problems began.

With no more spare parts being made Deku began to realize how destructive his garbage crushing methods actually were.

Designing his crushing methods after All Might’s Smashes, Deku's arms began to break down extremely fast from the abuse.

All Wall-E units know how to perform all types of maintenance and repairs including replacing broken and run down parts, like arms.

He has gone through three arms.

He’s moved to using his legs to crush trash. With most of the D3-ku arms rusted or broken beyond use he had no choice but to continue to use his crumbling arms until he can find a new pair of functioning arms.

Over 50 years later he is still looking for a pair worth using full time.

He does have an emergency pair just in case one arm stops working.

Even though it’s a hopeless tack, Deku still goes to work crushing trash. With no other options and all alone all he had left was his main directive: Clean the Planet.

He does this for 50 more years before he begins to explore more often, taking breaks for days or weeks at a time to scavenge for more All Might memorabilia.

It is during one of these hunts Deku finds another working robot, a small child companion model calling herself Doll.

So excited to find another bot, albeit almost totally destroyed but alive, he takes her back to his trailer and begins to repair her.

It takes months of searching to find parts before he can actually repair her during that time they become good friends, eventually forming a sister and brother bond.

Deku eventually finds mismatched parts from a customized battle bot that has arms and legs that look like a mummy, a new faceplate to go over her old one, a wig to replace her worn out matted hair, and a dress to cover her sensitive body part from the elements.

During “repair day” Deku was able to find a description on the side of her body while running new wires for the arm and leg and learns her true name is Eri.

From then on Eri and Deku go everywhere, including Deku’s work.

Having someone there really makes the work go faster with Deku clearing Takoba Municipal Beach Park in record time.

Deku doesn’t feel alone anymore. He’s happy now and has a loving little sister who looks up to him, but something is still missing in his life.

After watching so many hero videos, especially his favorite All Might rescue video, Deku dreams of becoming a hero like those in his films.

He tries to keep these thoughts to himself but Eri knows something’s wrong with her brother and wishes she could help him in some way.

Eventually Deku puts the dream on the back burner to focus on his directive and little sister.

That is until He finds a green plant with nine leaves in a refrigerator and his whole world changes.

Sh0-t0 (Sh0-Chan or Shoto) (Backstory)

Sh0-t0 is a Yuuei exclusive model of the Eve model designed by the BnL Japanese branch.

The newest version of Eve, he is one of four specifically designed for exploration of the Asian Continent.

The other models are the rest of the Todoroki siblings and Dabi (this falls under the Dabi is a Todoroki trope but doesn’t appear in the story)

When the siblings are getting ready to deploy one pod slot is empty the name: Tōya is dark and decommissioned.

All Sh0-t0 knows is his directive: find signs of life.

To help him with his search for life the left side of his face plate is a scanner with the ability to detect plant life. He has the ability to use fire and ice with the ice side acting as an emergency cooling when the heat of his fire becomes too much.

He doesn’t like his fire side and only uses it when enraged.

Mainly he uses it to destroy big objects and let off steam from the frustration not finding any signs of life.

Shoto mainly uses his ice side to handle the most dangerous situation. Though he can only use this ability for a limited amount of time before the water stored in his right leg depletes and he has to return to the ship that brought them to earth to reload. The water on earth is too toxic for his delicate systems.

Shoto has the most personality out of all his siblings having been deployed most out of the three remaining Eve models and having been deployed more often to the planet.

When deployed, Shoto loves to fly in the air making loop-de-loops and breaking the sound barrier.

The fast he goes, the fast he believes he can get way from the ship and the blackness of storage the Eve models always go back to after another failed mission to find signs of life.

Shoto hates the ship with all his being, if he could he would disappear like his fellow Eve model Tōya in a second, but he understands the goal of the directive he’s been given: to return humans back to the planet. He could never deny the humans the chance to come home just because he wants his freedom.

The siblings have been deployed once every five years and are left to search the continent for a year as decreed by the main directive of BnL's recolonization plan before returning to the ship.

Shoto does not like the Autopilot, at all.

Shoto knows the Autopilot Endeavor likes him the most because between him and Tōya they are the strongest Eve models if danger were to arise not only on earth but on the Ship Endeavor can take control back by force through them by black mailing Shoto with the safety of his siblings and everyone on board the ship.

Shoto knows the Captain is not in charge of the ship, Endeavor is.

What Shoto hates most about returning to the ship is the reports.

Oh God the reports! Every time they come back their memory files are probed for information on the progress of the earth’s rehabilitation it is one of the most degrading and painful processes Shōto and his siblings experience.

Every time they come back as a failure they are either upgraded or their parts are taken away and replaced with new parts diagnostics designed.

Shoto always gets new parts and upgrades, it’s how he got his screen scanner.

Earth is his safe haven, far away from the ship and Endeavor he’s free at least for a year.

This time around his directive takes him to Japan, the first time he’s ever been there in almost 700 years.

Shoto is excited since he hasn’t seen the island country in so long and wonders how much it’s changed. He’s ready for a change in scenery.

E.ri (Eri) (Backstory)

Eri is a small child companion robot designed to be a young child’s best friend or a child replacement for couples who can’t have children.

Unfortunately, Eri never became a companion or replacement child instead being abused and used for nefarious purposes.

Much of her early life she was passed around being upgraded and customized to the point of numbness.

She forgets who she was and what her main directive is anymore. She becomes a blank slate.

The final nail in the coffin being the removal of her original faceplate for a cheaply made custom faceplate. She is a Doll.

Doll doesn’t remember when she is thrown away or for what reason, perhaps her last owner didn’t want her anymore or the space ships didn’t allow for companion bots. Either way she is thrown into the trash.

She lays there still alive waiting for her final deactivation but it never comes.

Eventually scavengers find her and take some of her parts, her arm and leg for their own purposes. They don’t care if she’s still activated. She’s just a machine, a blank slate.

She remains that way for centuries until her hero comes in the form of the last D3-ku Unit, her big brother Deku.

At first she couldn’t understand why anyone would want to save her. She’s no good, trash, he should crush her like the trash she is and move on with life, but he doesn’t.

Deku cares for her and loves her like no one has ever done before. Deku’s patient with her and waits for her to make the first move.

Deku doesn’t see the machine she thinks she is, Deku sees a person who just wants to be loved. Just like him.

Deku brings her toys and stuffed animals, her favorites are the bunny rabbits especially when they are a little different, a missing eye or has unusual patterns, just like her.

Eventually, Deku comes back to their little trailer home with a new leg, arm, wigs colored close to her original hair color, a pretty new red dress and most importantly a new face plate. Deku offers her a new start.

Deku asks her if he could try to repair her and make things a little better for her. Deku knows he can never fully repair the mental scars but he can help her move forward.

She says yes.

Repair day, from then on they celebrate like it’s a human birthday, in a way it is for her. That day they learn her true name is Eri.

From that day on Eri begins the long road to recovery and healing. Eri doesn’t trust humans anymore, however, and may never trust them ever again.

Eri and Deku form a strong bond from that day on. Eri goes to work with Deku helping him where she can or being a friendly presence for Deku.

Their favorite thing to do is go exploring, which they do once a month and always on a Friday.

They always come home with little goodies for their collections and watch hero rescues and magical girl animes all night long.

Sailor Moon is her favorite.

Despite how happy Eri is now that she has found a family, a brother, that loves her she still worries about Deku. Eri knows he wants to be a hero like All Might, but to her he’s already a hero.

Deku saved Eri after all.

Bonus: Eri or “Doll” pre- Meeting Deku

#mha #mha au #bnha #wall e au #Eri #mydoria #izuku mydoria #shoto todoroki #todoroki #tododeku #tododeku au #bnha au #fanart #artist at work #digital art #writting #backstory #trigger warning: abuse

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frenchtoastsblog · 3 years

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wot-tidbits · 4 years

Text

RJ’s notes Part 70 by Linda Taglieri

SEANCHAN

SOURCE

The ability to channel is regarded by the Seanchan as evil, the cause of the Breaking and perhaps a thing of the Dark One. A dark taint, as Tuon said. The Seanchan believe that women who can channel are dangerous because they will use the Power against others to gain advantage, therefore for the safety of society they must be collared with an a’dam, a ter’angreal that creates an involuntary link between two women with the sul’dam bracelet-wearer in control (see Ter’angreal article for how the ter’angreal works), or else be killed.

But killing them is now regarded as extremely wasteful. Free, these women are too dangerous to be allowed, but collared they are more than useful, they are a cornerstone of Seanchan society and civilization. The prototype was created by Deain, an Aes Sedai in Seanchan, in an attempt to curry favor with Luthair Paendrag. She eventually was collared herself, after it was learned that women who could learn to channel but had not yet learned could wear the bracelet.

The percentages [of channellers] run higher among the Seanchan than among people east of the Aryth Ocean because, although they have been culling men who can channel out of the population as vigorously as is done anywhere, they have not removed any women who can learn from the breeding population. Thus, the number of women who have some ability (inborn or otherwise) runs at something over 1.5%, as opposed to the 0.5% east of the Aryth Ocean…Since the position is one eagerly sought, very few, if any, women who can become sul’dam fail to do so if they can manage it!

Once a woman has been tested with the collar, and passed by failing, she is tested with a bracelet, to see if she can link with the damane wearing its collar. Women who can do so become sul’dam, with only a few refusing this position. It is the law to search for sul’dam, even in newly conquered lands where they might not share the Seanchan attitude to enslaving channelers.

Once identified and collared, the damane no longer has any rights as a citizen, or even as a human. Traditionally, all her possessions were burned, but current custom is that the clothes she was wearing at the time are burned—as happens with novices and apprentice Wise Ones. The remainder of a damane’s possessions go to the Empress, who redistributes ninety percent of her possessions, in some cases to the family of the woman if the loss of it would cause hardship.

There is shame for a family in the discovery that a daughter of theirs has the potential, yet this shame is mitigated somewhat by aiding in the discovery. Families act as if the one discovered is no longer of their blood, and those who have the means, especially nobles (no one is exempt from the searching, not even the Imperial family), actually have records changed to erase the existence of the girl.

These women are regarded, in a way, as no longer really human (though no one would put it that way), as if they had suddenly been revealed to actually be vicious leopards. For the safety of everyone such a beast cannot be allowed to run loose in the streets, yet their nature is altered somewhat by being collared. There is still a thrill of terror at being close to a collared woman, yet it is like seeing the leopard in a cage under the control of an animal trainer.

As what the women can do is evil (despite so much in Seanchan society depending on it; perhaps better to say potentially evil if uncontrolled, the true current view), so the women themselves are tainted by evil. Some purists (a scarce handful) believe the women should be killed just as males discovered channelling are, but their usefulness as weapons and in other ways keeps this from being more than a very minority view.

By far most of them are the property of the Imperial family, yet many of the Blood will own several, and non-nobles also are allowed to acquire one. More than one, for a non-noble, would be considered getting above their station. They are quite expensive, though. Like a racehorse.

Among nobles and the wealthy it is a status symbol to own at least one. The more owned, the more status, yet the owners must be careful, since they are powerful weapons, not to own so many that it seems they might be acquiring a stockpile of weapons, which can bring the attentions of the Seekers. To counter their status as weapons, it is the custom among nobles (and those wealthy non-nobles who dare to ape the ways of nobles to some extent) to use the collared women in as many frivolous ways as possible. (Example: giving a ball where the lamps contain no oil (or there are no lamps) but illumination is provided by a collared woman or two. Or having one perform tricks with the One Power for entertainment, mixed in with jugglers and tumblers and musicians, of course, so that it is plain she is no more than a dancing bear or trained leopard.)

The clothes she wears, the food she eats, the bed she sleeps in, are all gifts from the sul’dam. and if a sul’dam chooses that she go naked, eat dirt and sleep in a stable, so it will be. In actual practice, other sul’dam would not allow such long except as punishment; damane are valuable, for one thing. For another, it is viewed in the same way that we would view someone mistreating or abusing a horse or a dog. Threatening these things is part of the training method used by some sul'dam with new damane. The normal attitude of most sul'dam toward damane is that of someone toward a well-trained dog or horse; real affection is often present. Frequently, it is returned.

The discovery that they “have a dark taint” and are unnatural to the point of not being human is horrifying to Seanchan damane.

Some would like to die. Most regard what has happened to them as right and proper, almost as a fitting punishment for their “crime and evil” and a chance to expiate same through service. Very few would feel any injustice (or desire to escape), and most of those see it more as fate dealing them an unjust hand than as any injustice on the part of those who picked them out or the [sul’dam] who control them. Most but not all of the rebellious ones are from the nobility, perhaps thinking that their station in life (their former station) should have kept them from this in some way.

Conversely those former damane that have been released from their collars on the mainland who have gotten used to freedom would still have feelings of near guilt at not being properly collared. Most if not all might well be tempted to turn themselves in to the Seanchan forces given a chance.

Damane look upon sul’dam with fear or respect mixed with gratitude that the sul’dam are guiding and sheltering them and keeping them from doing the awful things that they must surely do if they were allowed to run free. (Good medieval Catholics accepting their penance.)

Until Tuon led the way, few sul’dam tried to learn any of the weaves that the Aes Sedai damane know. However, a few weaves, such as Healing, have been taught to Seanchan damane, because of their usefulness. (Even though many Seanchan don’t allow the Power to be used on them.) So far, Aes Sedai damane have not been forced to reveal the method of testing for women who can be taught to channel.

The trainers of damane (sul’dam) and their owners (the Blood) are aware that damane live long lives and age very slowly.

They accept this as an attribute of those who can channel and take it as a sign of how unnatural they are. The Aes Sedai they faced on reaching Seanchan did not use the Three Oaths, thus did not have curtailed lives: a lifespan of 700‒800 years or more was not uncommon for those Seanchan Aes Sedai who escaped assassination.

While damane do die, and in fact, being used in combat, they are exposed to great risks, there are certainly damane who show considerable age and who are as much as 500, 600 or even possibly 700‒800 years old (i.e. born perhaps as long ago as 200 NE). There will have been damane who had been Aes Sedai when Hawkwing's armies began their conquest of Seanchan who died only 300‒400 years ago.

The result of the long life is that although damane have been recruited in Seanchan exclusively from women born with the spark, there are a very large number of damane, compared to the numbers of Aes Sedai. For the last thousand years, only those women who had the inborn spark, those who would channel without training, have been removed from the gene pool, and for over two thousand years before that, even they were not. As a result, there are many more women among the Seanchan population who either have the spark inborn or who can be taught than there are in the population east of the Aryth Ocean, where for over three thousand years Aes Sedai have cloistered themselves in the White Tower and had children seldom.

#Wheel of Time #notes #robert jordan #seanchan #damane

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blastberrydragon · 4 years

Text

MagiTech Institute of Art -Chapter 1

Tyler walked up the concrete steps and pushed open the double doors to the plain-looking admission's building for MagiTech Institute of Art. A rush of cold air and the smell of commercial cleaners filled his lungs as he braced himself to approach the stern-looking Asian lady seated at the front desk.

"Oh! You must be Tyler Risky! You look just like your father! Is your mom here with you?" She said warmly as she walked around her desk to greet him.

Tyler stopped mid-step, 'You knew my father?"

"Oh yes, he went to school here at the same time I did. He was a sophomore when I was a junior"

She leads Tyler to a small sitting area in the corner, keeping up the small talk, "Would you like something to drink? Where's your mother?"

"Some water would be nice; she's dropping off my little sister at a friend's house," Tyler responded while accepting the glass of water, "I'm sorry, but I never got your name?"

"Oh, sorry, I'm Ai; I run admissions for the university," she responded as she ambled over to the reception desk.

"Let's get you started on some paperwork while we wait for your mother," She called as she rifled through one desk drawer before moving on to the next one.

"This might take a while, our receptionist just stepped out for lunch. Jame's is the one who knows where everything is"

"New student files are in the top drawer in order of expected arrival for the day. An electronic copy is made, and papers get filed alphabetically with the rest of student records after the paperwork is filled out." A large dark man called as he strolled back out.

"Hello, I'm James! I would love to stay and chat, but I just cam back for my wallet", the man introduced himself.

"I can handle filing the paperwork after lunch if you leave it on top of my desk!" he called over his shoulder as he walked back out.

"Here we go!" Ai handed Tyler the paperwork, "Fill this out, and I can take you and your mother through orientation after you finish. Sometimes I wish that we could admit students all at the same time. Still, the rolling start dates allow us to welcome more unconventional students."

Tyler filled out paperwork for about 15 minutes before his mom walked into the office.

"Ai! It's been so long since I've seen you! I'm here to go through orientation with my son Tyler Riksy."

"Suzzy! I haven't seen you in forever, your son is right behind you. Such a nice young man, you did a good job raising him."

"If your paperwork is done, Tyler, you and your mother can follow me into my office."

"The paperwork is done, ma'am. Hi, mama," Tyler said, walking over to hug his mother.

"Let's get this started, shall we? The orientation room is right this way." Ai lead way through a door in the back of the reception area.

Tyler walked into a grey conference room, except for the floor-to-ceiling windows on the far side overlooking the rows of servers that seemed to stretch so impossibly far.

"Welcome to the MagiTech Institute of Art, but more importantly, welcome to your birthright," Ai proclaimed as she guided Tyler to a seat facing the windows. A sense of vertigo overwhelmed Tyler as he tried to focus on the servers.

"What?" Forces itself out of Tyler's mouth. He's sure he's misheard, birthright? Who uses the word birthright anymore? Did Ai mean he's a legacy because of Dad?

Tyler looks over to his mother, trying to figure out what going on. His mother beams at him with barely contained excitement.

"Oh, I had hoped you would take after your father. Keeping it a secret after you got admitted was so difficult," Suzzy rambled. "I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I?"

"Just a little, but most parents do. Tyler, your mother, is excited because by finding and completing the application to the school, you proved to have the innate ability to perform magic." Ai explained. Tyler stared incredulously at Ai and his mama, wondering what type of cult he'd gotten himself into and how to get out without causing a scene.

"And this is the part where you think we are delusional, and we have to prove it to you so you'll listen to the explanation," Ai says teasingly with a smirk on her face.

"So what do you think this is? Cult, drugs, hallucination, dream, multilevel marketing scam?" Tyler's mama asked him.

"Um, a cult?" Tyler responded. Questions raced through his head. Did cults acknowledge their cult status during orientation? What was happening to his mama? What do the servers have to do with magic?

"I can assure you that the school endorses no particular religion, but how about we start with a video explanation and a demonstration? I can answer any questions you'll have afterward," Ai said. She walked over to the screen at the end of the conference room and pressing play on the laptop connected to it.

"Welcome to the MagiTech Institute of Art and the world of magic" came blaring out of the speakers as scenes of students in classrooms played on the screen.

"Before we begin with the history of the school, let us go further back and discuss the history of magic. Magic was discovered by many cultures across the world at different times. We'll generalize the method in which magic was found by most peoples, although exceptions do exist.

Usually, the first people discover the use of magic within a culture could only do minor things with the ability. Light a fire a little faster, prevent food spoilage for an extra day or move a little quieter during a hunt.

Eventually, most cultures discovered that physical objects can enhance a person's magical ability. These objects were usually a form of artwork, sculpture, painting, and pottery were frequently used. Now they can walk through a crowd unnoticed, increase harvest yields by 10%, or better the odds of someone surviving an illness.

So it remained for hundreds of years until science came along and with it better, more reliable methods of ensuring a more abundant harvest or preventing disease. Magic use started to die out kept alive only by individuals looking to preserve their cultural heritage.

In 1972 a research study into the cross-cultural similarities in magic use was conducted. The paper never made it past peer-review, but the individuals who participated in the study, 200 of them, organized a convention of sorts. During the conference, it was discovered that many magic systems use physical objects to enhance their practice. After a bit of tinkering by a few programmers present, it was found that computers could strengthen the connection between objects and magic. An informal group was formed, and work began to design a supercomputer to enhance magic use.

This eventually gave rise to the MagiTechs, a group of people who have created, updated, and maintained the mainframe for the last 48 years. The mainframe is a supercomputer that came from those early efforts. Any magic-user can access the mainframe to enhance their magical practice."

Ai hits pause on the video "Do you have any questions before we get to the school's history?"

"Am I just supposed to believe in magic just because you said so?" Tyler says as he fidgets with keys. He glanced at the doors, wondering if he could convince his mother to leave with him.

"Not yet, we haven't really provided any proof. We do expect that our students be intelligent enough to ask for proof and examine it themselves," AI responded.

"We can do the demonstration now or after we cover the school's history, which would you prefer?"

"The demonstration now, please," Tyler responds, hoping to get this over quickly.

Anxious thought swirled around his head. I wish I had been more suspicious of the application. Rolling admission & start dates so I could finish working with Mrs. May on adding an art section to the bookstore? Need-based scholarships? Only 45 minutes away from mama and my little sister Jane? It was too good to be true.

"Ok, I'm going to give you a piece of clay and a laptop. The laptop is connected to the mainframe and will enhance your magic as you work it through the clay. Think of the one thing that would convince you that magic is real as you work the clay. Keep in mind that magic isn't limitless and try to keep it to something that can happen inside this room," Ai instructed.

Tyler turned on the laptop and started messing with the clay. His mind wandered to the many instances of magic users flying in popular culture. Superheroes flying through the sky loomed in his mind's eye as he worked the pattern of an updraft into the clay. Witches on a broomstick as he stretched the earth upwards. Levitating genies as a broad platform formed at the top of the sculpture.

"Tyler, honey, look down," his mother asked him.

Tyler opened his eyes and looked around the room. Everything, including Ai and his mother where floating 2-3 inches above the surface under them. Tyler looked down and found that he was hovering over the seat of his chair, and the chair itself was floating a few inches above the floor.

"I thought magic was supposed to be grander," Tyler mumbled.

"That's a common misconception, a tall tale if you will. Magic has always been limited to small things, and you are untrained. With training, you might be able to levitate everything in this room up to a foot or a single object 7-8 feet." Ai explained.

"Ok, so why all the secrecy? Why not just tell people? Why did Dad hide it?" Tyler asked.

"Well, most parents hide it from their children since there's no guarantee that children will inherit the ability. There were several cases of non-wielding children growing resentful and jealous of parents or siblings that did have the ability. Coupled with children's' habit of telling everyone everything, it's become customary to let children find their ability by themselves. There's no official rule that requires discretion, you can tell anyone you want. Most of us don't tell anyone except our partners because outside society is a bit judgemental about magic," Ai explained.

"I almost stopped speaking to your father when he told me, I thought he had either joined a cult or was planning on becoming a stage magician. I didn't know which would've been worse. I came around eventually," Tyler's mom said, grinning.

"Ok, I'm not fully convinced, but I'm willing to listen" Tyler replied

"Good, that's all we ask for, I'm going to keep going with the video, and we can cover any other questions after" So said as she pressed play.

"While the use of objects to channel magic is mostly something that could be passed down from generation to generation or from master to apprentice, the involvement of technology marked a need for a specialized school. The MagiTech Institute of Art was founded in 1974 with 3 areas of focus, technology, art, or magic history. More areas of focus have been added as the school has grown. However, students still spend the first 2 years at the school, focusing on these 3 areas.

The main campus began to be built shortly after the formation of the school. It was designed to be accessible to as many magic wielders as possible.

The school has been designed to be accessed through 73 different properties scattered around the world to better serve students. All of these properties will lead students, guests, or staff onto the main campus. All others see only the admissions building disguised as an unremarkable office building. 3 more entrances to the school are planned to come online by 2023.

The main campus of the school exists partially between all these locations and the mainframe.

We hope you will join us as a student and start your journey to becoming a MagiTech." The screen went black as the video ended.

"Ok, what does staying here, entail? Do I get to go home to see my family? What are the rules about visitors?" Tyler asked.

"We ask that all first-year students live in the dormitories, but there's no curfew. You are free to leave campus just like you would be at another University. Visitors need to be approved to come on campus. Staying here entails that you attend classes, obtain passing grades, and follow the rules set out in the student handbook," Ai said.

"Ok, if I agree to this, can I drop out if it's not a good fit?"

"While we hope students don't drop out, it does occasionally happen. We have a more generic description of classes for those who wish to transfer to a more traditional university."

"Ok. I'll stay. What happens next?" Tyler asks.

" We'll get you an access card, and assign you to another student who will show you around for the first few days. Your mom can drop off your stuff at the lobby of your dorm room on her way out," Ai said.

Ai led Tyler into a new glass-clad building. Once inside, they traveled through a few well-lit hallways cluttered with art before coming to a stop in front of an art studio with several students inside.

"Hello, everyone! Where's Alby? He's going to be Tyler's orientation person," Ai calls out.

"Alby's in the bathroom, he should be right back. Hi Tyler! Long time no see!" A guy in the back corner called Diego answers. Diego was small-framed with bright pink hair blending into purple roots. Warm brown skin crinkled around his eyes as he smiled at Tyler.

"Do you two know each other?" Ai asks.

*We went to high school together," they both respond.

"Tyler, would you mind if Diego introduces you to Alby? I'm running a bit late."

"Not at all, it would be nice to talk to him for a bit."

"Wonderful! Drop by my office if you need anything or want to chat" AI called over her shoulder.

"So, what's this place like Diego?"

"It's amazing! The classes are fantastic, the people super friendly, and you won't need to worry about people being assholes because they think you're gay," Diego answered.

"I'm not gay," Tyler responded, a well-worn joke between them. "I'm.."

"One of those no homo dude bros, I'm assuming." Interrupted a handsome person with beautifully painted eyes and a delicate mouth. Bleached white hair fell into their eyes, and a tank top reveling buff arms completed the look.

"I'm Alby, I go by they/them and I don't tolerate bullies."

"Umm, hi? I'm Tyler, I think you are the person assigned to show me around?"

"Yep. Get your stuff. I'll take you to your dorm room and pick you up for dinner after you unpack." Alby called over their shoulder as they stalked out of the room.

Tyler chased after them, catching up as they stepped out of the building into a tree-shaded courtyard dotted with chairs and tables. The wide-open grassy space was surrounded but other buildings. Tyler spotted students studying at the tables and hanging out with friends.

"Here's a map of the school and do try to keep up," Alby snarled, pushing a crumpled piece of paper into Tyler's hands.

Tyler trailed after them, bewildered as to what he had done to get off on such a wrong note. Maybe it was the polo shirt? Did it make him look like frat bro? He was just trying to look put together for orientation. Tyler resolved to ask Alby what his issue was when he managed to catch up to him and raced after him into a large brick building.

Alby stopped abruptly in front of a door in a corridor plain wood doors that left Tyler with an impression of the vague uneasiness of gazing upon the mainframe. " This is your dorm. I'll be back in an hour." Alby spat out as they turned on their heel and started to march away.

"Wait, Alb,y! What did I do to make you this angry this fast?" Tyler shouted at Alby's back.

"Clearly, you're one of those straight people that feel so fucking threatened by any queer person they have to let everyone know that their straight and not one of those people" Alby ground out.

"I'm pansexual?" Tyler responded, disconcerted.

"I don't care... Wait, what? But you told Diego you weren't gay?" Alby faltered.

"Oh, that's a joke we had in our high school LGBT club about people erasing the identity of anyone who isn't strictly gay. I mean, the name itself was pretty exclusionary, you know? Gay Coalition? But the school would barely let us have that," Tyler rambled.

"Oh, I fucked up," Alby muttered as they leaned heavily against the wall, "I fucked up bad. I thought you were homophobic, one of those guys that need to protest even the hint that they're not masculine enough. So you know Diego?"

"Yeah, we went to high school together, he graduated a year before I did."

"Well, if Diego thinks your cool, I guess I should give you a chance. Sorry for being an asshole." Alby mumbled to the ground.

"Don't worry about it. So this is my dorm?" Tyler asked hesitantly.

"Sure is, walk-in, and you should meet your new roommate. I'm going to turn in a paper, and I'll be back in a bit to take you to dinner." Alby replied, grinning.

"Um, Alby? How do I get in?" Tyler asked.

"It recognizes your student ID; press it on the door, it should let you in."

"Ok awesome! I'll see you in a bit for dinner!" Tyler called scrambled to get his ID out of his backpack.

#queer fiction #queer fantasy #lgbtq #fiction #original content #modern fantasy #pansexual character #magitech

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bombtimer · 4 years

Text

Day 13: On excitement

There have been many excitements in my lifetime. They range from (as one of my friends think of me) superficial things to perhaps philosophical ones. Here we go.

1. Entering the bookstore

While one of my earliest excitement going to the bookstore was in Gramedia Sudirman, Yogyakarta, there is no less joy when I have to spend money in a bookstore. I remembered my aunt bought me an illustrative book of volcanoes while my cousin got the earthquake one, and we ate Dunkin’ Donuts afterwards. There was also a new bookstore opening, called Social Agency Bookstore, when upon its opening, they have many discounts, particularly on manga. I prefer Gramedia to Gunung Agung, as I think the latter’s collection is less. But the favourite retail bookstore in Indonesia has to be Togamas. Not only does it give you discounts, they also provide free plastic cover for the books you’ve just bought. I developed admiration for mas mbak penyampul since they work so fast and neatly. I tried to cover my books several times but they don’t come as perfect as ones done by mas mbak Togamas.

During my undergrad, I might have not immersed myself with books. I can only remember reading Murakami’s Norwegian Woods and 1Q84 (which is arguably one of the best romantic novels ever). And, of course, Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google. These books might motivate me to read books again after high school, and sure, I tried several Goodreads Challenges every year.

In the UK, I have Waterstones just in the corner of my campus. It is a four-storey building. All floors are carpeted so you will hear people trying not to stomp and walk quietly. Books related to my field are located on the third floor, where there is no lift. But there is a small spot when you could read there and even work on assignments. It is a quiet corner where you can see people taking a smoke outside the Faculty of Engineering. There is also a cafe with delicious cinnamon rolls on the first floor.

Second bookstore that captivates me is Cambridge University Press Bookshop. I was roaming on the streets when it started raining and accidentally I was just on the outside of this gem. The building is three-storey, and it is quite small for what is one of the prominent press bookshops in the world. It is also no wonder to not see a rack dedicated to urban planning, though surely it contains the geography section.

I was definitely left in awe when I visited Blackwell’s in Oxford. Another friend told me that I should go there since the collection is humongous. And when finally I went there, I thought it’s the biggest bookshop that I ever visited and it contains a specific floor for social science. The Oxford University Press Bookshop is even smaller than that of Cambridge, and I remember I was questioning how come this university does not have what I am looking for. Yet in Blackwell’s, even two bookshelves are dedicated to urban planning and Southeast Asia. I also found Pisani’s Indonesia Etc., along with workpieces of Sir Batty. I spent almost £120 along with a tote bag that shouts for “Yes, I’ve been to Oxford but no I’m not a student at Oxford Uni”. Maria and I spent a solid 2.5 hours wandering in silence looking for what we like; she even spent £200 on five books which cover all the possible materials for her dissertation. All hails Blackwell’s.

2. Going places with close friends

The memory started in 2014, when my undergrad friends went to my hometown and tried Dieng for the first time. It was in January, so we didn’t catch the sunrise at Sikunir. Though Wonosobo has a scenic view, it’s not much to do around here except eating and talking.

I also consider the trip going back to Bandung with Bohokism after failing to say goodbye to Mira before she embarked for Stuttgart back in 2017. We had a really deep conversation where I finally did acknowledge my darkest times. It was also a start of something great because thanks to them, I also got motivated to be where I am today.

In the UK, I’m blessed to be surrounded by kind people. The one of trip memories started with a Bristol-Bath trip during the reading week in the first term. I happened to get acquainted with Hana and Aska, with Maria and Gineng also joined in. I remember the Cornish pasty that was so good I brought one to go. We wandered around Bristol and noticed the unicorn lightning rod on top of a building, and bought some Indomie and eggs to eat at our oh-so-comfy AirBnB. Afterwards we strolled on the dock and enjoyed the night breeze. The following day we went to an all-you-can-eat restaurant that gives a student discount so we could eat only for £10. We also had a photo session down in Bath Spa, as Hana is good with her camera. I also remember the bus going back to London when we sat by ourselves and did some Netflix and reading (clearly not me).

The next trip would be the Scotland trip. Some said that enjoying the highlands is better in winter (as in going to Morocco), and indeed it was true. We arrived in Edinburgh and climbed the hills and stopped by the Department of Theology of Edinburgh University and realised that every university in London doesn’t have a similar ambience. We also checked in to every Christmas market or Winter Wonderland in every city we’ve been to, as Marwa really loves mulled wine. Our mandatory photo was taken at a photobooth but we just didn’t print it.

We then proceeded to Glasgow and headed to the highlands. Like whoa. I have been seeing the mountainous scenery as I always live in the highlands but that doesn’t compare to what Scotsman see everyday. I also lived my childhood dream as finally I saw the mighty Loch Ness. It’s a sad thing that I couldn’t go to Isle of Skye, but that's alright since I remember having a really deep talk with Agita, Marwa, and Punyu at a hostel near Dundee city square. I couldn’t find Indomie so I had to eat local instant noodles which tasted horrible. We basically just read the Book of Questions and yeah I think that is what is making us closer afterwards.

There were a lot of trips in between, but I have to emphasise my Cornwall trip with Albert, Maria, and Hana in September 2019. We were dying to enjoy the beach in the southwestern part of England. We rented a car with no insurance, where only Hana and Maria were able to drive the car smoothly. We packed lots of snacks and cooked in our small but comfy AirBnB. We went to St. Ives and enjoyed the beach and the drizzle. And the famous fish and chips. I always asked to stop for a chocolate twist and Maria and Hana would just sighed. Albert is always that curious guy who would end up falling but he didn’t. We also hung out at a beach bar where it was a family night, where the three of us had cider or beer while I stuck on soda and lime. We cooked every time and had only all-you-can-eat when we stopped by Portsmouth on the way back to London. We realised that we were so lavish that during the 3 days trip we spent almost 200 quids each.

In the end, I agree that it’s not about the destinations as they will be just them. It’s always about the journey, the talk, the snack, the “e e awas awas!”, the “pake duit lo dulu dong”, and the memories, particularly with these chaps.

3. Getting called upon the stage

One thing I just realised that I will have to lower my expectations if I want to get an award or something alike. I remember seeing my seniors getting called and put in front of all students and their parents during the national exam results in junior high. Ten students were called along with their parents. I thought, at that time, like whoa they are smart. In high schools, only the top three students from natural science and social science class got called to the stage. Along with opening the result of SNMPTN and Chevening. I was thinking that I’d just be having a real good time along with my friends during the graduation when suddenly I heard my test number getting declared. I remembered that I couldn’t believe that fact and saw Eriska just congratulate me. I thought I was done after delivering a speech as I was an ex-OSIS guy, but I have to say that that day was quite specially wrapped.

Another case is when I went to Shah Alam by myself, presenting the research findings back in November 2017. I was the only Indonesian presenter there. The faculty members of the university holding the conference said that they knew some of my lecturers. As the conference was about research methods, I wondered why several presenters didn’t emphasise the novelty of their methods. But among six key tracks of the conference, I was awarded The Best Paper in Urban Planning and Development track, where I also just couldn’t believe it yet I couldn’t contain my excitement of getting my work noticed. I remember Maria putting it simply “Gue tau lo pengen karya lo yang diliat orang, bukan nama lo. Like let your works speak for yourself”. And yes, she was obviously right.

#30 days writing challenge

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mastin756x-blog · 4 years

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Man-Made (Cultured) Diamonds - Myths vs Reality, 2007

The ability to grow true gem-grade diamonds in a lab has been a long standing goal of science and industry, and one that has been achieved on a limited basis over the past five years.

Unfortunately most media publications are usually designed to sell articles, and thus often do not provide consumers with a true picture of the commercial reality and availability of lab-grown diamonds. Further, many sellers of diamond simulants (stones that look similar to diamond, but are not real diamond) exploit this knowledge gap as a way to deceptively sell their simulants as 'lab-grown diamonds'. As the president of a company that has been involved with both lab-grown diamonds 4c and diamond simulants for over seven years, and having seen the confusion many of these less than factual articles have caused, I wanted to help provide customers with an industry insider assessment of what is and is not commercially available, and help educate those who are indeed looking to purchase a true lab-grown diamond. Thus, we begin a short tour of myth vs. reality in the lab-grown diamond market (circa 2007).

First and foremost, lab-grown diamonds (real diamond, but not mined) are in fact available for jewelry purchase, but on a limited basis. The significant catch though is this - when most people think of a diamond, they automatically think of white diamonds. As of October, 2007, no one is currently able to offer white (colorless) lab grown diamonds for sale on any type of production basis. Regardless of what various reporters write, the reality is only fancy color diamonds (predominantly yellow, and to a much lesser degree, pink and blue) are available.

The reason for that gap between what consumers want (white lab-grown diamonds) and what labs can deliver (mostly yellow lab-grown diamonds), is due to both commercial value and natural barriers. Lets discuss the natural barrier first - yellow diamonds are yellow because they incorporate nitrogen into their crystal structure. White diamonds 4c are white (or clear) because they have much less nitrogen in their crystal structure. When growing diamonds, however, nitrogen is a catalyst - it significantly speeds up diamond growth, and in addition reduces defects. Thus, you can grow a 1ct (finished) yellow in roughly one week, versus growing the same size white (by restricting nitrogen) can take you 4-6 weeks (using BARS method, the default method currently). In other words, nitrogen can help you grow up to 6x as much yellow diamond as white in the same amount of production time. That's a tough natural barrier.

The commercial barrier, is that yellow natural diamonds are worth much more than white natural diamonds. In nature, there are roughly 10, 000 whites for every fancy yellow. Thus, fancy yellows command a much higher price per carat. Lab grown diamonds typically sell at a discount but are still pegged to their natural counterparts, and since yellow diamonds are worth more than whites, the absolute selling price for lab grown yellows is higher than what the market will pay for lab grown whites.

Now, if you combine the fact that labs can grow yellows much more quickly and easily than whites, and that yellow diamonds (lab grown and natural) further command higher prices than whites, you can see you have a severe dis-incentive to produce white diamonds with the current technology. White diamonds can and have been produced by labs (we have some sample photos on our website) but they are not price competitive with natural white diamonds at this time. Hence, a very big reason for why there are currently no white diamonds available for commercial sale.

These fundamental reasons are typically not explained in most published articles about lab grown diamonds, and many articles typically leave the reader with the exact opposite impression, that white lab grown diamonds are plentiful and cheap (remember the $5/ct quote from Wired magazine? ). Various unethical simulant (CZ) makers have utilized this confusion to deceptively advertise their imitation diamonds as being "flawless man-made diamonds", "perfect lab-grown diamonds", etc. all for the low price of $100/ct. And based on emails we've received from customers, people have been tricked into buying plain CZ, after being told it was a 'lab grown white diamond' and having seen articles discussing the advent of lab-grown diamonds being available.

There are two easy ways to avoid being suckered into unethical advertising like that. First of all, the price. To cut a 1ct finished diamond, you need between 2-3 carats of rough diamond to start. Cutters charge by the carat for their cutting work, and $100-$150/ct is a common rate. That means even if the diamond material were free, a seller would still have to charge at least $200-$450/ct just to break even on the cutting cost. And obviously, the lab grown material is not free and the seller would like to make a profit instead of break even, so if you see a seller selling 'cultured diamonds' or 'man-made diamonds' for less than several hundred dollars per carat, you can be assured it is not real lab grown diamond, regardless of what claims they make. Currently, lab-grown yellow diamonds are selling for around $4, 000/ct. And remember, yellows are produced up to 6x faster than whites, so you are unlikely to see lab grown white diamonds selling for much less than that in the future unless someone figures out a much faster way to grow diamond.

The second way to protect yourself, for lab-grown diamonds of any size (i. e.. 30ct and higher), is to only buy a lab-grown diamond that comes with a certificate from an independent lab. Just like natural diamonds, virtually all major gem labs now offer grading reports for lab grown diamonds (including, as of this year, the GIA). They are basically the same reports as they issue for natural diamonds, but with the origin listed as "lab-grown". If there is no certificate with a 'man-made diamond' of any real size (i. e.. 30ct or larger), and the seller declines to provide one when asked, then you can also be pretty sure its a simulant being called a lab-grown diamond.

Checking for the price and the grading certificate can ensure you are dealing with an ethical seller of lab-grown diamonds. We've seen many a customers whose hopes were dashed after we explained that the $150 pair of 'man-made diamond' earrings they bought were in fact nothing more than deceptively advertised CZ. Don't fall into that trap.

Another common myth about lab-grown diamonds is that all lab grown diamonds are 'perfect' or flawless. As noted, the current default technology for growing diamonds (BARS method) is simply replicating the high-pressure and high-temperature present under the earth, and doing it above ground (sometimes with additional catalyst to lower the necessary temperature/pressure required). And just as diamonds from under the earth have flaws, diamonds grown above the earth also have flaws. It is a more correct analogy to think of growing diamonds (using current technology) as diamond-farming, rather than diamond manufacturing. Just like farming, you plant a seed, and try to optimize the growth conditions, but you no more get a perfect diamond than a farmer always gets a perfect tomato. In fact, sometimes after a week is up, the chamber is opened and no diamond has grown at all... so it is no where near the 'push a button, out pops a perfect diamond' that many people think. Similarly, labs cannot customize how the diamond grows to be a specified shape (i. e. pear or emerald cut) - you get what you get, and cut to optimize the yield of each crystal.

That being said, it is true that most lab grown diamonds (especially yellow diamonds) are slightly harder than their equivalent natural diamonds. In yellows, this is due to the nitrogen being more perfectly dispersed, and Carbon-Nitrogen bonds are slightly stronger than Carbon-Carbon bonds. This is also one way labs with Raman equipment can detect man-made versus natural yellows - in yellow naturals, nitrogen is clumped, versus it is quite evenly dispersed in lab-grown yellow diamonds.

The next myth - lab grown diamonds can always be produced, so their prices will continue to drop vs. a natural diamonds will keep going up. Currently, gem grade, lab-grown diamonds are in fact substantially rarer than natural diamonds if you compare yearly production. While white diamonds are being mined in tens of millions of carats per year, lab grown whites are virtually nonexistent except for research samples, and yellow lab grown diamond production is measured in thousands of carats. And because growing lab diamonds is still hard, prices for lab grown diamonds have slowly gone up, not down because there is only so much production available even as demand has increased due to public awareness.

One more reality about lab grown diamonds - size. Currently, most diamond growth chambers are unable to grow larger than 3ct piece of rough (sometimes 4ct) and thus, after cutting, most lab grown diamonds are 1. 5ct or smaller (frequently smaller after accounting for flaws being cut out). The reason for this is that in order to grow a diamond using the standard HPHT (high pressure, high temperature) technology, you have to place an area under extremely high pressure and temperature. The larger the area you are trying to maintain these extreme conditions, the harder it gets.. exponentially harder, in fact, because the pressure at the center is magnified due to leverage. The parts applying the pressure themselves have a limited lifespan, as they will eventually crack and fail, and require constant replacement. Thus, most labs have not tried to go beyond the 3ct size growth chamber as it does get exponentially harder to maintain the same pressure for a larger area, and that is one reason why no one is offering 6ct finished yellow diamonds for sale.

With the reality check done, we'll end this article on a positive note - even with all the problems, costs and issues that still hamper lab-grown diamond production, colored lab-grown diamonds do offer people the ability to own and wear extremely high-end, fancy color, real diamonds at a fraction of the natural price. We'll emphasize that these are still real diamonds - chemically, optically, physically, and of course will pass any test for being diamond (since it is diamond, the place where it was grown is the difference). Most lab grown colored diamonds are vivid in color, meaning they are among the most valuable color grades as compared to natural colored diamonds. For example, one of the first lab-grown diamonds we ever sold was graded a 'fancy vivid orangy yellow', and was initially appraised as a natural diamond, valued at $65, 000 by a major lab (we had informed them we were submitting a lab grown diamond btw). We then received a very panicked call the next day from the same lab, who after running a Raman analysis on it realized it was a man-made and not natural diamond (due to the nitrogen being so perfectly dispersed). We sold that same diamond for $3500. Similarly, most of our pink lab-grown diamonds also grade fancy vivid pink, and if they were mined instead of lab-grown, could sell for as high as $150, 000/carat... we sell them for around $5, 000/ct, but unfortunately due to low supply (production difficulties) are sold out most of the year. Nevertheless, the lucky few customers who do buy a lab-grown pink have a lot of fun walking into their neighborhood jewelry store and seeing the jaws drop. It is also usually the first time their jeweler has seen a real lab-grown diamond in person, again due to the relative rarity of true lab-grown diamonds. They are very beautiful and leave most natural fancy color diamonds (who are normally less intensively colored) looking pretty bland by comparison.

Technology continues to improve, and hopefully over the next few years, there will be additional breakthroughs in lab grown diamond technology. One of the most promising areas is growing diamonds by mimicking how they (theoretically) grow in outer space. This is by using ultra-low pressure, plasma and high temperature, often called plasma vapor deposition. Because it does not require the high pressure, chamber sizes are much larger and in theory, much larger pieces of diamond can be grown. Conditions are more controllable as well, due to the diamond growing by in a more nano-technology like environment (carbon-rich gas is shredded at the molecular level, and the carbon atoms then reassemble on the diamond seed below). The trade off is the machines to do this often run between $500, 000-$800, 000 each, and a host of additional problems not present in high pressure growth regimes come into play in this new growth environment.. but hopefully in the future these will offer a new method for growing lab-grown diamonds.

Now that you are armed with industry insider knowledge, you'll be able to readily avoid the scams that so many unethical diamond simulant sellers use by playing on the publics (and even the medias) ignorance of the realities of man-made diamonds. Hopefully, you'll also realize that the constant claims that DeBeer's or other forces are to blame for the lack of lab-grown white diamonds 4c are not true (there are in fact real natural and commercial barriers to it). Finally, you'll hopefully have an appreciation for the hard work and effort that many scientists have put into turning the former dream of lab grown diamonds into reality on your finger, even if it still has many constraints as to what types, sizes and colors of lab-grown diamonds are available.

#diamond 4c

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animeimaginesscenarios · 5 years

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Sacrifice| Straw Hat Crew Part 1

Drip....Drip...Drop....

Drip...Drip...Drop..

Drip...Drip...Drop....

How long has it been since you’ve been in this cell. A few days, Weeks? Months? You didn’t know. Everyday felt so tiring and slow and long.

Your head hurt to much, your body hurt to much everything seemed to hurt to much , slowly your senses managed its way back into you, but it even hurt to just think. You winced at yourself as a cough came from your throat.

Even though your eyes weren’t open, you were sure your body was filled with scratches and dried blood and even bruises. You slowly opened your eyes as you painfully looked down.

The bruises were everywhere, through the small crack of moonlight she saw the black and purple bruising, your head against the hard concrete as the chackles around your wrist that made it turn red and swollen, You wanted nothing more than to cry, but it would hurt.

You closed your eyes again just wanting to sleep. This time you don’t even open it, not even when you heard shuffling from outside alongside with loud voices and screams of pain as someone was crying.

You didn’t open it not because you were scared to see what will happen, but because it will hurt to much to just open them.

•••

“Oi, Brat!” You slowly opened your eyes, You sat up and looked behind you.

“My, My Darling! It’s already going to be sundown, were you that tired?.” You didn’t replay as you looked at him, Staring at him with disgust as he gave you a smile that you just wanted to wipe off him.

“Not much in a talking mood? That’s ok.” He said grabbing a stool near him as he sat down on it, even from where you were sitting you could smell the reek of alcohol from him.

He scratched at his unshaven beard and tilted his head to look st you.

“You know, it’s been a whole month since you’ve been here, and we haven’t even seen sight of your friends.” He said as he then put his chin on his right hand.

“Do you think... they’ve forgotten about you?” He asked. You looked down not replaying as you heard him chuckle.

“Maybe they did! Maybe they’re glad that your gone! I mean.. isn’t it strange? They haven’t even came to save you.” He hopped off his chair as he bent down to your level.

“Were you really apart of their crew?” You glared at him for what he said.

“Woah! No need to look at me like!” He said laughing at the end.

“A whole month.” He repeated.

“How much longer do you think you’ll last? I gotta admit some of my patients don’t even last a whole week. Maybe my torturing methods are getting old.”

“You know what I think is the worst?...Hm? Fine I’ll tell you.”

“Solitation.” He said his voice going serious.

“How long...” He looked out through the small window in the right side of him.

“Do you think it will take you to break if I left you in this dark, cold cell to die.” You felt your chest tightened at his words, as you tried to focus on your breathing which began to become ragged.

“Humans need company...Even though they don’t show it at times, they crave for it, they crave for love and warmth and affection, but they crave for someone else’s presence even more, they go crazy for it, but maybe you hate me so much you’d prefer to be alone,hm?” He said looking at you, You didn’t meet his eye as you stared straight in front of you trying to distract yourself from his words.

“I’d always thought that’s how death would be like....A cold dark cell, unable to move or do anything. Nothing but the sound of your own thoughts until you go a little crazy. Just stuck in your conscious.” He smiled at the end.

“Death isn’t like that at all...” You croaked out.

“Let’s make a bet on that....” He said standing up.

“I’ll show you what the the legendary Blood Beard can do to break you...”

•••

“I gotta say I’m suprised you’re not dead yet.”

Your throat ached.

“I guess you can handle pain very well...”

“But I’m getting bored of waiting...I’m a very patient person Y/N, to patient actually, To the point where I’m done!” He threw a table from besides him as it came in contact with the wall, a loud snap coming from it.

“We’ve discussed this before, but I’ll tell you again... I could set you free, You could get out of this dark place....if you tell me everything about the straw hats especially, Straw Hat Luffy.” You didn’t move from your spot. Back facing the cieling as the taste of blood went down your chin, Your chest going up and down begging you to just rest and breath.

“I won’t....I won’t tell you anything....” You choked out through blood.

“Damn Brat!”

His foot came in contact with your back slamming it harder than a cannonball. You grunted. He repeated the action over and over again. He probably was about 200-300 pounds heavier than you, so this man was basically crushing you.

You grunted as you held back a scream. Your body becoming numb to the pain. He stopped as you heard him panting out of breath.

“Tch. Don’t think it’s over yet.” He said as he picked you up. Slamming you on the chair beside him as he picked up some rope and tied you to it.

“So, are you read to talk yet?” He asked. He got angry at you as you didn’t respond to his question.

“The Straw Hats are weak! Who puts crewmates in front of them! Who would sacrifice their own life to just save theirs!!” He screamed at you, you flinched at his words before you coughed and looked up at him.

“...They would.” You said. His eyes widened at you before walking over to a table behind him, You hanged your head down again. Your body aching. Screaming and moaning at you. Telling you that you needed to just stop whatever you were doing because they couldn’t handle this anymore. You wanted to listen, but refused to tell this man anything about your friends.

“You know Y/N....You have very beautiful eyes...What will happen if I just ripped them off, Will you scream at me to stop and tell me, or would your loyalty refrain you.... I’m curious really.” He said as he scraped a sharp metal against the walls. You painted but didn’t say anything. You heard as his slow footsteps came over to you until he was in front of you.

His hand quickly went to your face, You hissed in pain as He squished your cheeks together. He softly ran the cold object down your cheek and neck until it reached your collarbone.

“Last chance.” He said.

“.......I won’t tell you anything....” You spat out.

“Then your completely useless to me, I don’t care if I have to go find another friend of yours and torture them the same way I did to you...I gotta admit I’m impressed by your loyalty, I reminds me of when I was young, but they’ll betray you like they did with me, They’ll make you trust them, Giving you warmth and a family you’ve never had, and then they’ll stab you in the back.....I’ll kill Strawhat Luffy and his entire crew, You going first.” He said smiling.

There was a few moments of silence, and even though your face aches a small smirk crept on your face, you started to chuckle which then turned into a loud laugh. Like you found this the most hilarious thing in the world, and you couldn’t stop not even when it felt like someone was stabbing a knife into your cheek because of how much you were laughing or how your throat was just making you wheeze.

“What the hell is so funny to you!?” He yelled.

Your laughter slowly died down, as you slowly turned to look up at him, His facial expression had a confused and suprised look. You smirked even wider.

“I don’t think you know who my crew is. Well I’m sure you’ll meet them sooner or later...but are you suprised? Did you expect me to beg? Scream? Cry? Well I’m not....I’m not going to beg my life for someone like you! A low graded pirate! You can insult me all you like but don’t even say a single word about them! My crew is going to be the strongest in this whole entire world! And don’t even say say you’ll kill Luffy! Don’t you know who he is? Luffy...Is the next Pirate King!” You screamed it at him. He looked at you shocked.

“You can drown me! Kick me! Punch me! Stab me! But I won’t tell you anything! So go on ahead and kill me right here and now! But don’t think for a single second that I’m scared of someone like you!” You yelled. His face slowly turned to anger as he raised the small metal knife.

“You piece of...” He bought the knife down as you kept your stare on him.

Zoro...Nami...Usopp...Sanji...Chopper...Robin..Franky...Brook...Luffy....I think this is the end for me...I wanted to spend more time with all of you...I wanted to see all your dreams come true, so I’m sorry to say I probably won’t be there...but I hope you can all move forward...Everybody...Please...Live!

And suddenly your whole world went black.

•••

“Oi, You mind moving?” You asked the male in front of you.

“Eh?” He turned to look at you giving you a clear view of his face. A scar under his left eye was the first thing you saw. A confident smile and a strawhate that made you had to back away so it wouldn’t hit you.

“Sorry!” He said as he took a few steps behind as you went over and picked the piece of metal, inspecting it. You left a strong stare in your back as you looked to see he was still looking at you.

“Uh. Can I help you?” You asked. He didn’t respond as he kept looking at you.

“I don’t think your from here. What’s someone like you doing in a junkyard like this?” You asked.

“I’m looking for my crewmates, but I think I lost them.” He said looking around almost reminding you of a child.

“Crewmates? Are you a pirate?” You asked picking up another piece of metal.

“Yup!”

“Well Mr.Pirate. The exit is that way, you can keep going straight and you’ll probably get to town, a tip from me don’t stop if a merchant is trying to sell you something, trust me.” You added. You thought that would have been the end of the conversation but since you didn’t hear any footsteps retreating you looked to see he was staring at you hand.

“Hey, Your kinda freaking me out when you don’t say anything.”

“What are you doing?” He asked, you were taken back as you looked back to you hand to see the piece of metal in your hand.

“I’m collecting old ship parts for an engine i’m building.” You said proudly. “Not to brag or anything but I’m the best shipwright in town.” You said hands on hips proudly smiling.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yup! Look at some of these designs!” You took a piece of blue paper from your back pocket unfolding it and then handing it over to him. He took it as he stared at it.

“Amazing isn’t it! My grandpa has been teaching me since I was 5! I’ve repaired ships for pirates and even old abondned ones! Not only that but I’ve got ship designs that I’ve been dying to make! I’m actually in the process of one right now! It’s gonna be my biggest masterpiece!” Stars in your eyes as you poured your heart out to the stranger in front of you. You looked to see him tilting his head as he looked at you.

“S-Sorry, Did I bore you, I tend to do that a lot.” You said now embarrassed rubbing your neck, suddenly he grinned as he put the paper in half.

“H-Hey! Careful with that!” You said.

“I’ve decided!”

“Decided what?”

“I want you in my crew!” He grinned confidently. His request sounded more like a demand to be honest, You stared at him shocked.

“E-Eh!? As if! I’m not joining some pirate crew! I don’t even know who you are!”

“I’m Luffy. Monkey D Luffy!” He said proudly.

“Luffy? I felt like I’ve heard that somewhere before.” You said his name echoing in your head as you placed a finger to your chin.

“Really?”

“No.” You said walking around him.

“C’mon! It’ll be fun! Your looking at the future pirate king!”

“Pirate King? As if.”

“My crews really cool. We have a swordsman! His name is Zoro, He’s pretty good with the sword! And we have a navigator! Nami! And a shooter his name is Usopp!”

“Not interested.”

“We have this cool ship! Her name is the Going Merry!”

“....Listen! You don’t even know who I am! So why don’t you and your crew go find someone else to bother!” You yelled at him, He blinked before smiling.

“Then what’s your name?”

“It’s Y/N...Wait no forget that!”

“Y/N, join my crew!”

“Don’t call me Y/N! And I’m not joining your crew!”

“C’mon, If your im my crew then I won’t ever need to worry about Merry, Because I have someone like you!

“You haven’t even see me! How do you know if I’m even good.”

“I don’t!” You were taken aback before smirking.

“Luffy, I’m not going to join your crew.” He ignored your comment as thought it went one ear and out the other.

“If you join my crew! Then this whole world won’t stand a chance!l

#monkey d. luffy #One Piece #Anime #Zoro #One Piece X Reader #Nami #Robin #Chopper #Sanji #The Going Merry #X Reader #Fanfiction #Ace #WhiteBeard #Straw Hats

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